Over the course of a 6-plus minute rowing race, you wouldn’t think that one single stroke would matter all that much.

But good luck convincing the quintet of Port Rowing’s girls U17 4+ boat of that. Because as they learned at the New York State championships on May 11-12, every stroke counts.

The way it works at the state meet, held in Saratoga Springs, is that only the Top 3 boats in the grand final (the boats that finished in the Top 10 of the morning preliminary heats) make it to the U.S. Rowing Youth Nationals.

And there’s often so little difference between the top boats, Port Rowing’s Sophie Pevzner said, that every single stroke could make the difference.

“You’re pushing and pushing and you’re so tired, but you know if you take one stroke just a little lighter, the boat next to you is going to pass you and finish ahead,” said Pevzner, about to enter her junior year at Port Washington’s Schreiber High School. “All the training and everything you were hoping for, means you have to go hard on every single stroke.”

Pevzner and her teammates (Laura Kim, Charlotte Debler, Katherine Pupke and coxswain Alex Cherkas) dug deep and accomplished their goal, finishing third and making it to states by a mere 2.8 seconds.

It was just one of seven boats, consisting of 31 club athletes, that made it to Sarasota for the June 8-9 nationals.

“We had practiced so much leading up (to states), and we put so much pressure on ourselves to make it that when we finally did, it was a big relief,” said Van Villabos, another Schreiber junior who is on the boys U17 4+ boat that finished third at states as well. “The chemistry and the teamwork that you put in really paid off.”

Seven boats making nationals marked the end of yet another successful season for Port Rowing, which boasts more than 100 athletes.

Training at North Hempstead State Park, the club has grown and gotten better and better in recent seasons, and this year’s nationals showing was impressive.

Competing against the best boats all over the country in Florida on June 8-9, Port Rowing’s boats had several strong performances.

The best was turned in by that boys U17 boat, which finished first in the “B” final, meaning it was ninth-best in the country. The fivesome of coxswain Mio Lanfant, Luca Tizzano, Joseph Macri, Syros Baris and Villalobos beat all comers in the second-best final event.

“It’s just a huge sense of trust we have with each other in the boat,” said Macri, a junior at North Shore High School. “There were a lot of nerves because we knew how good every boat (at Nationals) is; every race was a dogfight.

“So to get to win the B final, having other teams see that and see what our team can do, is really exciting.”

The girls U17 4+ boat that squeaked into Nationals placed third in the C final, while the girls youth 2- boat of Lauren Marino and Estella Woodside finished seventh in the C final.

“The best thing about our boat is we’re all like best friends and so supportive of each other,” Pevzner said. “We never blame anyone when something goes wrong, it’s all about uplifting each other and doing better. If there’s a problem, we fix it and move on.”

Also on the girls side at Nationals, the youth 4+ boat of Coxswain Tea Cotronis, Olivia Burke, Christina Lago, Alexandra Burke and Anna Woodside were third in the D final.

On the boys side, in addition to the U17 4+ boat, the youth 4+ boat with coxswain Shayna Blumenfield, Jared White, Tilden Vaezi, Cooper Denninger and Dean Egen, placed fourth in the C final, while the Youth 4- team of Benjamin Ollendorff, Harris Breene, Vincent DiPalo and Emanuel Lago captured first place in the D final.

Finally, the boys U16 4x+ boat of coxswain Alec Oldis, Ben Dietrich, Roman Ertel, Boden Smith, and Alex Dietrich won the C finals in Sarasota. That feat is even more impressive when you consider that four members of the boat just finished eighth grade, showing how good they can still get.

For Pevzner and her teammates, the Nationals experience just made them hungry for more success.

“The competition at Nationals is just so hard, so to be there and see how good everyone is just shows us how hard we have to work to get even better,” Pevzner said. “It definitely motivates us to come back and do even better next year.”