High School Senior to Compete in National Rowing Competition

For the second consecutive year, graduating senior Sarah Hart has qualified to compete in the 2011 US Rowing Youth National Championships. She will be rowing for Community Rowing Inc. of Brighton.

“I am really determined that we place in the top six final this year,” she said. Last year, her boat took eighth place nationally.

The competition takes place June 10 through 12 on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The field of contenders includes 1,500 athletes from high school and junior rowing programs competing for national titles in 18 boat classes.  

This year, Sarah was in the club’s top women’s varsity eight boat that medaled silver at the recent two day regional qualifiers held on the Merrimack River in Lowell. Among the regional qualifying races taking place nationwide, her boat is currently rated in the top eighteen.

The June competition is especially exciting for Sarah because she carries the responsibility of being in stroke seat for the boat, a position that requires her to set the rate and rhythm of the other seven rowers for the duration of the 2000 meter race. 

“While we will be up against all the best crews from around the country, we are in with a chance and am hoping we can take it,” she said. 

This fall, Sarah will be a freshman at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She plans to study Developmental Psychology and row for the NCAA Division I women’s crew.