NA rows rows rows its boat to victory

 

By Rick Davis

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

Sunday, April 24, 2005

 

Katie Hodnik knows she doesn’t compete in one of the glamour sports.

 

There’s rarely any television exposure, even at the highest level.  There are no lucrative contracts, no fans tailgating before the competitions.

 

“My mom always says that rowing isn’t a spectator sport, “ she said.

 

And that suits her just fine.

 

“It’s tough sometimes to see in the Olympics all the coverage on the pole vault, and then there’s only a blurb on rowing at the end.  But I think rowing is the best team sport there is.  You really have to work together.”

 

As a member of the North Allegheny High School rowing team, Hodnik and her teammates already have been working together in unison.  The Tigers opened their spring season in strong fashion last weekend, traveling to Princeton, N.J. to compete in the Lake Mercer Super Sprints/ISA Sculling Championships. 

 

North Allegheny came away with two gold medals, five silver and nine other top-five finishes. 

 

“I thought we performed better than expected for the first race,” Tigers girls’ coach Don Heckenstaller said.

 

“In the Philadelphia area, they start practicing a month before us.  It usually takes us a while to catch up with them.  So I’m really happy with the way we did.”

 

The Tigers, recognized as a club sport by the school district, came away with first-place finishes in the girls’ octuple and novice eight events.

 

The day-long competition featured 85 teams from across the Northeast, including some of the top teams in the country.

 

“There’s a couple of well-known schools in Philadelphia that everyone tries to be like and we hung right with them,” Melissa Titus, the NA boys’ coach, said. 

 

“There was some amazing competition.  And it was a rough day because it was really windy in the morning, which made the water rough.”

 

It was the first venture into the New Jersey waters for the Tigers’ crew team.  North Allegheny usually opens the spring season in Virginia, Heckenstaller said.

 

“In Virginia, they had sweep [one oar] and scull [two oars], but it was getting too big so the moved the scull to New Jersey.

Unlike the fall races, which are timed events on longer (2 ½ - to 3-mile) courses with teams rowing one after the other, spring races are all-out sprints.  Teams line up side by side and compete on 1,500-meter to 1-mile courses.

 

Joining Hodnik, a senior co-captain, in the winning octuple boat were seniors Megan Hudson, Ali Bogart, Lara Seltz and Sharon Dauson, junior Brittney Kelly and sophomores Kathleen Janosco, Erin Dauson and Elena Reynolds (coxswain).

 

“They say the best rowers always have something to work on,” Hodnik said.  “Well, the hard work pays off.”

 

In the winning novice eight boat were freshmen Olivia Klipa, Jenny Hudson, Taylor Span, Jessica Kelly, Stacey End, Lauren Skoog, Alexis Rodefer and Chelsea Burchick, with Reynolds the coxswain.

 

The coxswain steers the boat and is usually in charge of the crew.

 

“[Reynolds] is a workhorse,” Heckenstaller said.  “We had another coxswain who quit and she picked up the slack.  At this point, she’s our best.  It’s pretty unusual for a sophomore.”

 

North Allegheny, with 59 members (27 girls, 32 boys) competing this season, will take to the waters again in the Pittsburgh Sprints May 7-8 at Moraine State Park, before heading to the Midwest Scholastic Championships May 14-15 in Cincinnati.

 

“Our novices, we’re focusing on sweep,” Titus said.  “The varsity, we’re focusing on scull.  We have a lot to work on, but we’re looking pretty strong in those events.”

 

Rick Davis can be reached at 412-263-3789 or rdavis@post-gazette.com.