Like a Boss

Youth Nationals

A worthwhile weekend in Oak Ridge, TN for Youth Nationals. Seattle Rowing Center is going home with two medals - 1st in the LM2x and 2nd in the W2x. The W4x made a strong showing in the petite finals, finishing 7th overall.

Holy Names also had a solid regatta. I don't think everyone finished where they wanted to, but most folks are going home pretty content with the experience. Our LW8+ finished 11th overall, beating out Green Lake in the repechage, a team that had finished 4 seconds ahead of us at the Regional Championship. Our W8+ finished 15th overall, in a competitive race against a number of top talent crew from around the nation, and after a very close race in their repechage.

From my more personal experiences, I feel like I have come a long way with some of these kids and have learned a lot this year about how to help everyone get faster. I definitely want to move away from the erg even more, and continue to de-emphasize the earlier races in favor of more intense and voluminous training schedules. More seat racing all season long so kids know where they're at all the time, and more time in small boats (as always).

I am going to really miss my outgoing seniors with whom I have had a chance to work the most these last two years. A couple of solid rowers and a spectacular coxswain who have been with me since my first regatta with the experienced HNA team in San Diego are headed off to bigger and better things (college!). I have been shaped by my athletes, and will likely continue to be shaped in the years to come.

I am very excited about the youth on our team. We have a few very strong athletes who did not make the trip out to Oak Ridge, and there is enough youth on the lightweight squad to keep cranking out fast boats for the next couple of years. We always have to keep an eye on the future - it was right after my championship races that I did the loftiest planning for the year to come when I was in college. It is the same now on the other side of the fence.

Regionals Photos

What made me happy at this regatta was how well each boat attained the style of stroke we were going for in such a short period of time. Here is the 4V4 holding decent length in the last 300 meters of their race.
A fearsome high school 8+, indeed...
Launching the young lighties. There are not many people in the world who can make me feel tall. These are some of them.

Why am I so fortunate?

What an amazing weekend! I have more than a little bit of a pep in my step now, and am pumped full of energy that I was otherwise lacking previously.

I was accepted to the Oklahoma National High Performance Pre-Elite Team for the Summer. I am hoping that this camp become a first step to making a World Championship boat for 2011. I will absolutely tear myself asunder to get a seat on the US Team. I have been giving my all for these last years and am ready to continue to do so. I will be living with my Aunt Teresa, bless her generosity, and my Dad is bringing me an old car and bike to use while I am there. I will be keeping all of my belongings in my car in Seattle under the watchful eye of my teammates and coach, and I will be taking my boat with me to OKC. Huzzah!

On top of that, Holy Names Academy had a high;y successful Northwest Regional Championship Regatta. We qualified 18 athletes for nationals and brought home medals in 6 events. All our athletes put forth a strong effort, and all of our experienced rowers made it to the A final and gave strong performances. It makes me so excited, especially given the high level of success enjoyed by our younger athletes. They have big shoes to fill in the coming years.

All is well in Seattle. This weekend I am off to Austin to visit a college teammate for an engagement celebration. After that, I have a week in Seattle, and then I am heading first to Oak Ridge Tennessee for Youth Nationals and then to Oklahoma City!

Hopeful Summer

I've decided that it must be my destiny to become an Olympic Lightweight rower. Born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, just minutes from Oklahoma city where most of my Dad's family was settled, I gradually made my way westward. Enrolling at the University of Puget Sound for little more than a pretty brochure and a healthy financial aid package, it was there I learned to row, near the Mecca of rowing in the Western United States. In the Northwest, I learned to row and became a member of a deep and strong community spread between Central Oregon and Northern Washington on the I-5 corridor. Within this community, I would have access to some of the bet coaching in North America, find inspiration in hard-working teammates, and be able to draw strength and help form a number of friends in Seattle.

Now I find myself making plans to return to Oklahoma, where I will live with family and make an attempt to find a boat on the 2011 US or Pan Am teams. It seems that if things go well this Summer, I will be able to split my time and resources between Seattle and Oklahoma City going forward. An interesting prospect given my thoughts since moving to the Northwest that I would never return to Oklahoma again...

NSR I

A my second NSR I, I finished 13th overall, winning the C-Final and improving by 9 places over last year. I am very proud of my result, although I want more and will continue to work until I am finishing 1st. I had a shaky time trial, barely making the cut to progress by only 1/100th of a second. My heat was fast (arguably the fastest, but weather makes that tough to determine), and my final was strong. I have made huge leaps and bounds over the last 12 months and I think I will continue to see more. Now I am looking for the next step. My top choice is to hook up with a partner in Seattle and go for the Pan Am light double. My second choice would be to relocate to OKC and make a big boat there, and while I would prefer to scull, my interest in a 4x camp is strongly depended on what kind of support I can find financially. I am very excited for the summer.

This week I am headed to Brentwood with Holy Names Academy for our first big regional speed test of the Spring. I am pretty pumped up about my light 8+. as it has shown tremendous growth in speed since SDCC.

On a non-rowing note, I am at the do-or-die point in deciding whether or not to return to graduate school at U of Oregon. I hope I can hear back from some of my contacts so I know what my summer schedule will look like. I don't want to stop racing!!

SDCC Lighties

Everybody out of the boat!