PG North: Crew team takes 7 medals and two national titles

Thursday, August 04, 2005

By Scott Robertson, Tri-State Sports & News Service

The North Allegheny boys' rowing team has proven that there can be strength in relatively small numbers if the small numbers are primed for success.

NA sent a team of 16 rowers to the 2005 U.S. Rowing national championships -- a competition featuring the top rowing schools in the U.S. as well as international competitors from Canada, Mexico and Guatemala -- and came away with two national titles and seven medals.

"I think the overall attitude of the team and the coaches is what made us successful," said Steven Marcus, who will be a junior at NA this fall. "The coaches kept on pushing us and working with us. We improved every time we went out all summer. We just seem like we improved a little bit on something every time we went out."

That improvement manifested itself in impressive results in the national championships, which took place in late July in Indianapolis. The men's Junior B Double boat (16 years of age and under), which included Ryan Mohan and Alan Meininghaus and the men's Junior B Quad (16-and-under) with brothers Brian and Steven Marcus, Adam Reckless and Zac O'Neill won gold medals and national championships.

Silver medals were won by the men's Junior A Quad (18-and-under) with Rory Dahl, Andrew Kaiser, Joseph Brendel and Singen Elliott and the men's Junior A Double (18-and-under) with Kaiser and Elliott.

Elliott also won a bronze medal in the men's Junior A Single (18-and-under). The men's Junior B Double (16-and-under) with Taylor Sandora and Steve Marcus and the men's Junior B Quad (16-and-under) with Mohan, Meininghaus, Sandora and Josh Weis also took bronze medals.

"We came away much better than I thought we would," said Aaron LeDonne, who serves as coach of the summer program and is an assistant to head coach Melissa Titus during the school year. "When you look at the Junior B Double, we had not had a boat in the final for three or four years. To have three of them get into the final this year was just phenomenal."

The key to the team's success, according to its coaches and rowers, was in the internal competition that marked the summer program. NA had an outstanding school season, 10 students took medals in May at the prestigious Stotesbury Cup Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Elliott, who won three medals in the national championships, said the team was confident entering the regatta and came away very pleased with its efforts.

"We've got a lot of guys who really are dedicated to rowing," he said. "We're a pretty tight group of guys. We all hang out together and support each other, but there is a friendly competition between us, too, and I think that helps make us strong. You have to be able to beat out guys on your own team for seat time before you can beat the other teams at the regatta."

That internal competition sparked the boys' team in the national championships, where the team received a boost from three former rowers who served as coaches this summer: Jordan Ellis, Michael Ban and Tim Francis.

"One of the big challenges we had was that those three guys all rowed for us last year, but they had never coached," LeDonne said. "They are really competitive guys who did well at NA, but they did not have much coaching time. They really worked hard with our kids and pushed them all summer to be the best they could. They made a big difference for us."

Brian Marcus said the input of the coaches helped turn the tide in the team's favor and gave the comparatively small NA contingent an edge against some teams that brought more than 100 rowers to the event. NA's squad managed to finish third overall in the points standings, trailing only national rowing powers Vesper and NYAC in what Titus said was a feat never before accomplished by a public high school team.

"Our coaches definitely were a big help," Brian Marcus said. "We had a smaller team, but I think we had more one-on-one attention from our coaches because of that, and I think that helped us a lot. We had a great group of guys that was willing to work hard, and all our coaches helped us."

Titus said the results show the growth of the NA rowing program and indicate it is emerging as a top rowing school. The program has been able to attract athletes from other sports and had 24 boys in the summer program, among it highest totals in history.

"The results are really impressive," Titus said. "This is one of the biggest groups we have ever had in the summer program. When you have a lot of kids like this, they really push each other for seats, and I think that ended up making the whole team better."

Titus will enter her 10th season with the program and fifth as head coach of the men's team this fall.

"This has been an incredible season," she said. "The kids have worked really hard and done an outstanding job."

Steven Marcus said the success achieved at the national championships will serve as a springboard for the team heading into the fall.

"It definitely will help because we will be able to get physically stronger," he said. "I know myself that I have improved physically from where I was, and I think a lot of the other guys have, too. Right now we have to work to clean up our technique a little bit and be sure we are working as one in the boat. We can get better and if we can keep working on our technique, I think we will."