By
Brian A. Binder
NORTH
JOURNAL
Rowing
is a sport that requires speed, strength, endurance, balance and excellent
reflexes.
The
stroke is the backbone to a great run and the four steps to a perfect stroke
are catch, drive, finish and recovery.
North
Allegheny’s rowing team did just that this year.
“The
team was very well rounded this year,” said Melissa Titus, North Allegheny head
coach. “They worked very hard.”
Their
strong work ethic showed as the Tigers cleaned up at the Midwest Rowing
Championships with 20 of the 24 boats qualifying for the finals. Thirteen of them took home medals, including
gold and silver sweeps in the men’s varsity singles, doubles and quads, along
with the women’s varsity quads. The
team shined again at the 79th annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the
oldest and largest high school rowing event in the world. The event was held in Philadelphia and was
made up of 180 teams from 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.
North
Allegheny qualified four of their 11 boats for the finals, capturing three
medals, including the gold in the Men’s Senior Doubles and Junior Quads and the
Women’s Senior Quads.
“It’s
great to see a public school do so well against east coast private schools who
can recruit, “ Titus said.
“We
had a better season this year,” she said.
“We had increased water time, a great bunch of novices and we really
focused on sculling this year,” which is a team using one oar as opposed to two
[sic].
All
of the training is paying off as the Tigers are currently preparing for the
U.S. Rowing National Youth Invitationals, to be held in Cincinnati on June 11th
and 12th.
“We
are looking forward to competing against schools from Florida and California.”