Oklahoma City National High Performance Center

Youth Pavilion, Sky Trail & Zip Line at the Oklahoma River

2012-01-23T09:38:00.000-06:00

Oklahoma City-area youth will soon have access to a variety of adventure activities at a new youth pavilion planned for the Boathouse District. SandRidge Energy is donating funds for construction of a youth pavilion and adventure attractions in the Boathouse District on the Oklahoma River. The SandRidge Youth Pavilion is designed to provide adventure activities that include a Sky Trail™ course, a zip line across the Oklahoma River, an outdoor climbing wall and indoor surf park.

The project was first unveiled in December, 2011, with the announcement that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma would provide the initial $500,000 donation for the multi-phased project. Blue Cross and Blue Shield also provided funding for the new “KaBoom” playground adjacent to the pavilion.

Read more at the links below:

Oklahoma River Youth Pavilion will be Named for Sandridge Energy

Youth Pavilion, Sky Trail & Zip Line at the Oklahoma River

2012 OKCNHPC / USRowing Senior Men’s Pair and Men’s Double Camp

2012-01-20T20:28:00.001-06:00

The goal of the M2- and M2x camp is to identify small boat combinations for National Selection Regatta #1 (M2-) scheduled for March 14-16, 2012, and the Non-Qualified Trails Regatta (M2x) scheduled for April 9-12, 2012.

The OKCNHPC / USRowing M2- and M2x Camp will take place February 10-March 8, 2012 (for M2-), and February 10-April 3, 2012 (for M2x), at the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center, a USRowing Training Center and US Olympic and Paralympic Training Site. The camp will have a rolling admission deadline through March 1, 2012.

Successful applicants will be provided with housing for the duration of the camp. Athletes are responsible for food and travel to Oklahoma City. All interested athletes should e-mail the following information to Bryan Volpenhein, USRowing coach, at volpenhein@gmail.com.

Athlete Name
USRowing Number
Birthdate
Height
Weight
2k score and date
6k score or program equivalent and date
Rowing preference (scull and/or sweep and side)
Coach's recommendation

OKC Athletes Give Back to the Community

2012-01-16T17:04:00.000-06:00

OKC National High Performance Center coaches and athletes spent the day on Saturday, washing and walking dogs, cleaning cages, and painting animal adoption rooms at the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division. The group of 27 participated in a group volunteer day in an effort to give back to the city they've called home since it's designation as an Olympic training site in July of 2009.

"Oklahoma City has been so great to us, the people have been so generous and welcoming since we've moved here" said Chelsea Smith, OKC National High Performance athlete and 2 time 2011 Pan American Games bronze medallist. "The amount of support we've received is unbelievable and we want to take advantage of any opportunity we have to give back to the city".

The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter is open for adopting or reclaiming pets from 12:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. every day except holidays at SE 29 & Bryant, 1.5 miles east of I-35. The Animal Welfare Division is responsible for promoting public health and safety, for temporarily sheltering and providing humane disposition of unwanted or lost animals, and for promoting animal welfare so that pet ownership is a pleasure for owners without becoming a burden to the community.

Peszek and McEachern Conquer East Coast Speed Order

2011-11-18T19:22:00.001-06:00

The selection process for the team that will represent the United States next summer at the 2012 Olympic Games in London is officially underway with the conclusion of this weekend’s fall speed orders.

At locations on both sides of the country, USRowing held events at the USRowing Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and at the USRowing Training Center in Princeton, N.J.

Speed orders have traditionally been held to establish ranking among athletes currently training with the national team and identify potential athletes. For the men’s side this year, the event results helped determine selection camp invitations.

In Chula Vista, Will Miller clocked the fastest time of the men’s single sculls, completing the six-kilometer course in a 22:48.75. Rounding out the top four finishers were Warren Anderson in a 22:50.07, Sam Stitt in a 22:50.72 and Oklahoma City lightweight - Tom Paradiso in a 23:04.11.

On the east coast, GMS Rowing Center’s Mike Sivigny clocked the fastest time of the men’s single sculls, completing the 4.25-kilometer course in 17.19.757. Penn A.C. Rowing Association’s Stephen Whelpley finished second in 17:42.956, followed by GMS’s Seth Weil in 17:49.814. Oklahoma City's Pat Close finished 4th in 17:52.536, Martin Etem finished 5th in 17:52.646, Max Goff was 6th in 17:59.726, Ryan Shelton was 11th in 18:20.584, and Aaron Marcovy finished 16th in 18:41.467.

In the men’s pair, USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Tom Peszek and Deaglan McEachern finished first in a 16:31.148. Penn A.C.’s Steve Kasprzyk and Joe Spencer finished second in 16:40.761, while USRowing TC – OKC’s Ryan Monaghan and Andrew Melander finished third in a 16:52.656. OKC's Blaise Didier and Greg Ansolabehere finished 5th 16:54.791.

Andrew Campbell of Cambridge Boat Club clocked the fastest time of the lightweight men’s single sculls, crossing in 17:35.741. USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Will Daly finished second in 17:45.890, followed by Colorado Rowing’s Greg Ruckman in 17:48.656.

In the lightweight men’s pairs, USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Will Newell and Jimmy Sopko posted the fastest time of the day for all open and light pairs, completing the course in 16:28.314. Nick LaCava and Anthony Fahden finished 2nd in 16:28.585, Robin Prendes and Kenny McMahon were 3rd in 16:48.356, and Ryan Fox and Greg Flood were 5th in 17:08.565.

USRowing Training Center – Princeton entries swept the top spots in the women’s pair. Eleanor Logan and Caroline Lind won in a 16:47.750, followed by Jamie Redman and Amanda Polk second in 16:55.083. Erin Cafaro and Kady Glessner rounded out the top three with a time of 17:00.049. OKC's Meg George and Megan Smith were 9th in 17:44.366.

OKC Athletes Begin Olympic Selection Today at the East Coast Fall Speed Order

2011-11-12T10:14:00.000-06:00

The selection process for the team that will represent the United States next summer at the 2012 Olympic Games in London officially began this week.

At locations on both sides of the country, USRowing will hold two fall speed orders beginning Thursday at the USRowing Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and today at the USRowing Training Center in Princeton, N.J.

George and Smith

Speed orders have traditionally been held to establish ranking among athletes currently training with the national team and identify potential athletes. For the men’s side this year, the event results will help determine who will be invited to the selection camps where the crews that will compete in the eight, four and quadruple sculls will be chosen.

The top four finishers in the men’s single and top three men’s pairs at the Chula Vista event and the top two men’s singles and top two men’s pairs in Princeton will earn automatic qualification to the camps.

The majority of the Oklahoma High National Performance Center's athletes headed to the East Coast. In Princeton, indoor erg testing begins at 1:15 p.m. today. On-the-water racing will be held tomorrow on Carnegie Lake beginning at 8 a.m.

The east coast event features 106 crews rowing the men’s and women’s single sculls, men’s and women’s lightweight single sculls, men’s and women’s pairs and lightweight men’s pairs.

Participating in the women’s pair are 22 USRowing Training Center athletes. Among them, the women’s pair of Monica "Meg" George and Megan Smith will represent Oklahoma City. George and Smith recently captured a silver medal in the Women's Pair at the 2011 Pan American Games in October.

Peszek

In the men’s pair, eight OKC training center athletes are scheduled to compete including Tom Peszek, who rowed the event in Bled and qualified the boat for 2012. Peszek will be racing with Deaglan McEachern who was in the 2010 World Championship pair. A new combination of Greg Ansolabehere and Blaise Didier will be testing their speed. Didier placed 6th in the Men's Pair with Coxswain at the 2011 World Championships and won a gold medal at the Pan Am Games in the Men's Eight. Andrew Melander will be teaming up with Ryan Monaghan. Monaghan represented the US in the Men's pair in 2010.

Representing Oklahoma City in the Men's Single will be Pat Close, Martin Etem, Aaron Marcovy, Ryan Shelton, and Max Goff.

In the Lightweight Men's pair OKC training center athletes Will Newell and Jimmy Sopko, Nick LaCava and Anthony Fahden, Ryan Fox and Greg Flood, Kenny McMahon and Robin Prendes will compete for the top ranking going into winter training. Fahden, Prendes, and Fox represented US in Bled in the Lightweight Men's Four. Newell, Sopko, LaCava competed in the Lightweight Men's Eight.

OKC will have 2 representatives in the Lightweight Men's Single, Will Daly and Austin Meyer. Daly is a 2008 Olympian while Meyer raced in the 2010 World Championship Lightweight Men's Eight.

Relive the Pan American Games

2011-10-24T11:31:00.000-05:00

Click on the links below for videos of OKC athletes competing at the Pan American Games in Mexico:

Women's Pair Final (George/Smith)

Men's Eight Final (Gennaro/Otto/Didier/Johnson)

Women's Quad Final (Smith/Sechser)

Lightweight Women's Double Final (Sechser/Smith)

Men's Pair Final (Gennaro/Otto)

Lightweight Men's Double Final (Paradiso/Duff)

Men's Quad Final (Paradiso/Duff)

OKC Athletes Compete at the 47th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston

2011-10-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

Athletes representing USRowing Training Center - Oklahoma City traveled to Boston this weekend to compete in the 47th running of the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA.

OKC's Austin Meyer joined forces with Harvard University teammate, Andrew Campbell, in the Championship Men's Double. The crew finished second in a time of 16:42.9 behind first place Peter and Tom Graves in 16:26.8. The Graves brothers represented the United States in the Men's Double at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

Next up for OKC was Tom Paradiso in the Championship Men's Single. Paradiso, fresh off racing at the Pan American Games, finished 4th in a time of 18:36.7. Deaglan McEachern finished in 12th place in a time of 19:15.4 ahead of Max Goff in 14th place (19:18.2).

OKC's Hilary Cumbest finished 14th in the Championship Women's Single in a time of 21:24.9.

Tony Davis and Jacqui Kapinowski won the Mixed Trunk and Arms Double in a time of 24:32.5. Davis and Kapinowski competed in the TA Double at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

Nicole Dinion, racing in the Lightweight Women's Single event, finished 10th in a time of 21:16.5.

USRowing Training Center - OKC finished 5th in the Championship Men's Four in a time of 16:32.3 and 2nd in the Championship Men's Eight in a time of 14:23.3.

In the Lightweight Men's Eight, OKC's entry posted an impressive 14:27.7 giving them first place over second place Harvard University (14:41.8).

Tulsa Alum Michelle Sechser Grabs Hardware at Pan Am Games

2011-10-21T13:46:00.000-05:00

Link to Tulsa Sport's coverage of OKC's Michelle Sechser at the Pam Am Games:

http://www.tulsahurricane.com/sports/w-rowing/spec-rel/101911aaa.html

Former Drake rower Chelsea Smith wins two bronze medals at Pan American Games

2011-10-21T13:36:00.000-05:00

Check out the link below for an article about OKC's Chelsea Smith:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20111020/SPORTS0204/111020019/0/SPORTS0204/?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Chelsea Smith and Michelle Sechser

OKC High Performance Athletes Return Home With 5 Medals from the XVI Pan Am Games

2011-10-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

With the completion of the rowing events at the XVI Pan American Games, United States crews finished with eight total medals including four gold, two silver and two bronze. Oklahoma City High Performance Center athletes won five of the eight medals awarded to Team USA. Cuba won nine total medals (three gold), with Argentina (five gold) and Canada (no gold) also finishing with eight medals.

The U.S. men’s eight of coxswain Marcus McElhenney, Michael Gennaro, Matt Wheeler, Blaise Didier, Steve Kasprzyk, Joe Spencer, Ty Otto, Jason Read and Derek Johnson capped off the regatta with a wire-to-wire victory on Wednesday.

The crew took command off the start, building more than a one-second advantage during the first 500 meters of the race and increasing that lead to more than three seconds over Mexico at the midway point. Despite a late charge by Canada, the U.S. cruised to a 1.69-second victory. Canada won the silver medal, followed by Argentina.

“We just came out of the blocks faster than we’ve ever done,” said McElhenney. “The whole goal was to take the race; no one was going to give it to us. We took it from the very first stroke, and we just kept running with it. My hat’s off to these guys.”

With the victory in men’s eight race, Oklahoma City's Otto and Gennaro become double gold medalists at the XVI Pan American Games. The duo also won a gold medal in the men’s pair.

Michelle Sechser, Chelsea Smith, Catherine Reddick and Megan Walsh brought home a bronze medal in the women’s quadruple sculls.

The crew sat in fourth place behind Cuba, out of the medals, going into the final 500 meters but recorded the fastest final quarter of the race to win bronze with a time of 6:39.36. Argentina won gold in a 6:34.46, followed by Canada.

“It feels great,” said Sechser. “It was a tough race again in the quad, coming back from behind, sitting in fifth or sixth place in the second 500. We knew as a crew that we were going to grind in the middle of that base and came together as a boat. We had only practiced twice and gave it everything we had.”

With today’s medal, all four women became double medalists at the XVI Pan American Games. Oklahoma City's Sechser and Smith won bronze in the lightweight women’s double sculls, while Reddick and Walsh won silver in the women’s double sculls.

Representing Oklahoma City at the XVI Pan American Games

2011-10-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

Left to Right: Derek Johnson (M8+), Megan Smith (W2-), Blaise Didier (M8+), Meg George (W2-), Michelle Sechser (LW2x, W4x), Michael Gennaro (M2-, M8+), Robert Duff (LM2x, M4x), Ty Otto (M2-, M8+), Tom Paradiso (LM2x, M4x), Chelsea Smith (LW2x, W4x), Jeremy Ivey (Coach)

GOLD for Gennaro and Otto, BRONZE for Smith and Sechser at Pan American Games

2011-10-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

Tuesday’s standout performances at the XVI Pan American Games 2011 brought the United States’ medal haul up to five. U.S. crews won two gold and one bronze on the second day of finals in Ciudad Guzman.
Men’s Pair

Oklahoma City's Ty Otto and Michael Gennaro won gold for the U.S. in the men’s pair.

“We are super pumped,” said Gennaro. “We’re really happy and excited to have the opportunity to race for the United States.”

“We got a lot of momentum going into the summer,” said Otto, who, along with Gennaro, won gold in the men’s eight at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Amsterdam. “It was fun trying to make the jump to represent the U.S. at the senior level. Coming down here is our first big multi-sport competition, and it’s just fun.”

Otto and Gennaro dominated Sunday’s preliminary heat en route to today’s final, where they crossed ahead of Brazil (6:48.74) and Canada (6:50.80) for the gold medal in 6:47.07.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

In the lightweight women’s double, OKC High Performance Center athletes and first-time national team members Michelle Sechser and Chelsea Smith won a bronze medal. The U.S. crew was the top seed going into the final after winning the preliminary race for lanes.

In the final, Sechser and Smith were in third position throughout much of the race. Mexico crossed first for the gold medal in 7:16.04, followed by Cuba (7:17.77) and the U.S. (7:18.88).

A bronze medal in a considerly deep field is a promising performance for the young duo of Smith and Sechser. The Cuban boat featured 2008 Olympian Yaima Velazguez in stroke seat. The Mexican double had half of their most recent 2011 World Championship combo, Lila Perez Rul, at stroke, while Argentina's double was comprised of two athletes from the light quad at Worlds. Brazil consisted of Camila Carhalho and Luciana Granato, Beijing Olympians in this event.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls

The men’s quadruple sculls crew of Tom Paradiso, Bob Duff, Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg and Andrew Quinn finished sixth in the final, posting a time of 6:10.88. Argentina edged out Cuba by 0.49 seconds for the gold medal.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

Paradiso and Duff returned a little over an hour later to race in the final of the lightweight men’s double. The U.S. was in fifth place at the 500-meter mark before overtaking Brazil in the second quarter of the race and finishing fourth in 6:30.85. Mexico won gold (6:24.52), followed by Cuba (6:27.07) and Canada (6:29.27).

Four U.S. crews go to the line Wednesday to race for medals in the lightweight women’s single, women’s quadruple sculls, men’s single sculls and men’s eight.

Former Texas Rower George Wins Silver at Pan Am Games

2011-10-17T21:48:00.000-05:00

Link to Texas Athletics Article:

Former Texas Rower George Wins Silver at Pan Am Games

Meg George and Megan Smith Capture Silver for USA at Pan American Games

2011-10-17T14:05:00.000-05:00

Team USA won two silver medals to highlight the first day of finals on Lake Zapotlan at the XVI Pan American Games 2011. Argentina leads the current medal count with three gold.

In the women’s pair, Oklahoma City National High Performance Center athletes Megan Smith and Meg George held second place the entire length of the course before making a big push to the line. The U.S. crew finished in a 7:29.05 to Argentina’s Maria Best and Maria Abalo, who won in a 7:24.57.

With the Argentine pair that raced at Worlds, three World Cup medals in the Canadian pair (in the eight, no less), a second place finish is a promising result for the new USA combination of George and Smith. The field consisted of 2008 Canadian W8 Olympian Sarah Boninkowsky - Argentina' s pair has been the focus for Beijing single sculler Maria Best since 2009, and she and partner Maria Abalo are fresh from Bled's C Final at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

“Going into the final, Megan and I knew we had a lot of hard work ahead of us,” said George. “Argentina and Canada are smart racers and we expect(ed) to have to fight for every inch.”

"It was a push right from the beginning," said Smith. "We went out wanting to get ahead, and stay there. We were able to maintain that for quite a while and went at it as hard as we could. It was the best race we could have rowed today."

On deck for Tuesday are the finals for the lightweight men’s double sculls (9:08 a.m. CST), women’s single sculls (9:25 a.m. CST), lightweight women’s double sculls (9:49 a.m. CST), men’s pair (10:12 a.m. CST) and men’s quadruple sculls (10:35 a.m. CST).

Finals Set in Mexico - Gennaro, Otto Advance

2011-10-16T22:18:00.000-05:00

Finals are set at the Pan American Games, with the completion of a gusty second day of preliminary racing on Lake Zapotlan in Ciudad Guzman. Despite a short break in the race schedule due to high winds, seven U.S. crews saw action on Sunday including the lightweight men’s four, women’s single sculls, men’s pair, lightweight women’s single sculls, men’s eight and men’s and women’s quadruple sculls.

Mike Gennaro

Oklahoma City's Ty Otto and Michael Gennaro won the second heat of the men’s pair by more than five seconds to highlight racing. Otto and Gennaro clocked a 6:45.85 to Cuba’s 6:51.00.

For the men’s eight and men’s and women’s quads, Sunday’s races served as a “race for lanes” to determine placement in the finals next week. The U.S. won the eight in 6:02.21 with a crew comprised of OKC's Gennaro, Otto, Blaise Didier, and Derek Johnson with teammates Marcus McElhenney, Joe Spencer, Jason Read, Matt Wheeler, and Steve Kasprzyk. The men's quad with OKC's Tom Paradiso and Robert Duff with teammates Andy Quinn and Dan Urevick Ackelsberg finished fifth (6:31.46). The women's quad with OKC athletes, Chelsea Smith and Michelle Sechser, with teammates Megan Walsh and Catherine Reddick finished third (7:02.71).

OKC Athletes Come Out Swingin' at the XVI Pan American Games 2011

2011-10-16T21:57:00.000-05:00

A trio of preliminary wins set the stage for the U.S. team as it started its XVI Pan American Games 2011 campaign Saturday in Ciudad Guzman. With the conclusion of today’s program, seven crews advanced to the medal rounds.

Oklahoma City's Meg George and Megan Smith in the women’s pair, started the day by winning its race for lanes with a time of 7:31:72.
OKC's Michelle Sechser and Chelsea Smith came back from fourth place after the first 500 meters in lightweight women’s double sculls race for lanes to grab a first-place finish and top seed in the finals on Oct. 18.

“This was first time I’ve ever competed for U.S.,” Sechser said. “For how young we are as athletes, we were composed. We clawed our way back into first place and are in position for the finals on Tuesday.”

The lightweight men’s double sculls crew of Oklahoma City High Performance athletes, Tom Paradiso and Bob Duff finished second in the heat (6:45:14), but came back to win the rep to advance.

More than 6,000 athletes from 42 countries will compete in this year’s Games, held every four years, a year out from the Summer Olympic Games. Rowing has been a part of the Pan American Games since 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the last Pan American Games, held in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the United States brought home seven medals on the men's side and three medals on the women's side, for a total of ten.

The 2011 Pan American Games are the third Pan American Games hosted by Mexico and the first held in the state of Jalisco. Previously, Mexico hosted the 1955 Pan American Games and the 1975 Pan American Games, both in Mexico City.

Texas Native Ready for Finals at XVI Pan American Games 2011

2011-10-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

Check out this article about OKC's Meg George:

Texas Native Ready for Finals at XVI Pan American Games 2011

Golden Hurricane Alum Michelle Sechser Earns Spot on Pan American Games Team

2011-08-20T04:21:00.001-05:00

Check out the link below for the University of Tulsa's write up on Oklahoma City High Performance athlete Michelle Sechser:

http://www.tulsahurricane.com/sports/w-rowing/spec-rel/081811aaa.html

Former Rowing walk-on Meg George will compete in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 15-19

2011-08-20T04:04:00.000-05:00

Meg George

Check out the link for below for the Texas Sports write-up on OKC's Meg George:

Former Rowing walk-on Meg George will compete in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 15-19

Eight Oklahoma City High Performance Athletes Named to the 2011 Pan American Games Team

2011-08-20T03:47:00.000-05:00

The 2011 Pan American Games will feature a lot of familiar faces, including five Olympians that earned berths on Thursday at the conclusion of trials.

Finals got underway Thursday morning on Mercer Lake with volatile weather that delayed racing for more than an hour mid-way through the morning program. The trials determined 11 of the 14 crews that will represent the United States at the Pan American Games October 15-19 in Guzman City, Mexico.

In the final of the men’s four, the Penn A.C. crew of Matt Wheeler, Joe Spencer, Steve Kasprzyk and Jason Read posted a winning time of 6:05.43 over USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s 6:08.24 with the crew of Ryan Monaghan, Andrew Melander, Hans Struzyna and Brad Bertoldo.

Michelle Sechser

USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Tom Paradiso and Bob Duff won the lightweight men’s double sculls with a time of 6:35.61. Paradiso is 2008 Olympian in the lightweight four, while Duff is two-time national team member. Riverside Boat Club crossed second in a 6:47.44, followed by Undine Barge Club’s 6:49.63.

USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Mike Gennaro and Ty Otto, two members of the winning men’s eight at the 2011 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, crossed the line in 6:37.49 to win the final of the men’s pair. Gennaro and Otto crossed 5.26 seconds ahead of USTC – OKC’s Blaise Didier and Derek Johnson’s 6:42.75. The 2nd place finish in the men's pair event qualifies Didier and Johnson for the men's eight which will compete at the Pan American Games, comprised of the men's four and top two pairs.

Megan Smith

In the men’s double sculls, Undine’s Andy Quinn and Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg took first with a time of 6:21.94. USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City with Ryan Shelton and Martin Etem crossed second in a 6:24.04, followed by Durham Boat Club’s 6:25.91.

In the lightweight women’s double sculls, the USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City crew of Chelsea Smith and Michelle Sechser crossed the line first with a time of 7:14.11. Smith and Sechser were more than seven seconds ahead of Undine/Penn A.C.’s 7:21.85.

Megan Smith and Monica George, also racing for USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City, won the women’s pair with a time of 7:31.38 over Potomac Boat Club/Seattle Rowing Center’s 7:39.48. Vesper Boat Club finished third with a time of 7:42.84.

Guest Blogger: Nicole Dinion Recaps Her World Championship Trials Experience

2011-08-08T22:10:00.001-05:00

Nicole Dinion

Nicole Dinion of Falls Church, VA is the first female Oklahoma City National High Performance athlete to represent the United States at the World Rowing Championships.

Below Nicole reflects on her preparation and perfromance at the 2011 World Championship Trials in West Windsor, NJ:

"It was desolate. After training in the bustle of Washington D.C. for 3 weeks, where the 7:00am jets, 7:15 news helicopters, and 7:30 EVAC practice team render hearing your coach near impossible, we were pretty excited to transition our training up to Mercer Lake in NJ. The hustle and bustle of the city was energizing; but, after a series of mornings where our boat was double booked and I tried to take out a few innocent kayakers from bow seat, we thought pieces on the empty course at Mercer County, in our own boat, would offering a refreshing change.

The change was drastic. We went from no parking and tripping over Crocs on the dock to a completely empty boat house. There was no one. We couldn’t even get into the facility because all the administrators were out of town. Thankfully we got an addition to our team - head coach of Pocock, Steve Dani, arrived from Seattle. Having a coach “watch your every stroke” can add, well, some integrity to your practice.

It was a catch 22. The flat water, buoyed race course, and lack of obstructions made training a lot easier and we made technical improvements. But without anyone around, and with no other women’s lightweight quads registered for trials, it was hard to keep that “kick” in our stroke. Finally, though, my fellow OKCers arrived. Having my team around after being apart for almost two months put the vigor back into my training. The energy, charisma, and work ethic of the athletes in Oklahoma never ceases to inspire me. It probably also helped that another quad registered.

We were geared up. I liken it to a race horse that’s all warmed up to a lather and can hear the crowd cheering. We were chomping at our bits. On finals Thursday morning we finally got to do our first, all-out, throw in the kitchen sink, 2K. I swear to you, that headwind picked up every stroke as we went down that course. I didn’t know a 2K could take a quad so long to finish. But finish, we did: securing 1st place and our spot to the 2011 World Championship. One of the most exciting parts was realizing that we had posted up a competitive time with the Women’s Open Four, who is also training in Princeton between now and the World Championship. Hopefully, they won’t be too intimidated to do pieces with us ;) "

To contribute the fundraising efforts of Nicole and the USA Lightweight Women's Quad, please visit the following link:

SUPPORT THE USA LW4X

Help Send OKC Athlete's to the World Championships

2011-08-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Blaise Didier, Derek Johnson, Anthony Altimari

Use the following link:

SUPPORT THE USA MEN'S PAIR WITH COXSWAIN

12 More of OKC's Own Named to 2011 US National Rowing Team

2011-08-04T19:12:00.000-05:00

Thirteen crews earned nominations to the national team after winning their respective events today at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey. Racing was decided in five Olympic events, including the women’s single sculls, men’s double sculls, men’s pair, women’s pair and lightweight men’s double sculls and seven non-Olympic events including the lightweight men’s single sculls, lightweight women’s single sculls, lightweight men’s pair, men’s pair with coxswain, lightweight men’s quadruple sculls, lightweight women’s quadruple sculls and the women’s four, and the lightweight men’s eight.
Some had an easier time than others, but most of the racing was tight.

In the men’s pair, USRowing Training Center-Oklahoma City’s Silas Stafford and Ryan Monaghan took an early lead and held that position going into the last 750 meters. In the sprint, USTC-Oklahoma City’s Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel made a huge push and took the race for their own.

Peszek and Stangel won with a time of 6:39.16 over Stafford and Monaghan’s 6:46.29.

“We had a pretty good start, but Silas and Monaghan came out faster,” said Peszek. “We stayed calm and collected as we rowed. But when push comes to shove, only one boat wins.”

Next up in the lightweight men’s double sculls, the three-boat final featured GMS Rowing Center’s NSR #2 winners Brian de Regt and Jon Winter. de Regt and Winter raced in Europe over the summer but did not qualify for a nomination to the team.

This time, they did not let the chance slip.

The GMS crew won with a time of 6:34.04 over the composite entry from USTC-Oklahoma City/New York Athletic Club’s Robert Duff and Tom Paradiso that finished in 6:37.01.

“That was probably the toughest field we have ever faced in the U.S.,” said de Regt. “It was really tight through 750 meters to go, and then we were able to open up just a little bit and get more comfortable in the last 250 meters.”

Blaise Didier

In the men’s pair with coxswain the USTC-Oklahoma City entry of coxswain Anthony Altimari, Blaise Didier and Derek Johnson registered a first-place finish in 7:14.15 over three other crews from USTC-Oklahoma City, Penn AC and a composite crew from Vesper/Penn AC/USTC-Oklahoma City.
The lightweight eight USTC-Oklahoma City/Hanover Training Camp composite crew of coxswain John Carlson, Jimmy Sopko, Kenny McMahon, Christian Klein, Will Newell, Edward King, Matt Kochem Hills, and Austin Meyer rowed uncontested to earn a spot on the team, posting a time of 5:57.57.

Nicole Dinion

In the next race, the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls of Nicole Dinion, Hillary Saeger, Lindsey Hochman and Katherine Robinson, the composite entry from USTC-Oklahoma City/Pocock Rowing Center/Riverside Boat Club, finished in 7:10.92, defeating the Vesper entry.

Wrapping up the racing was the women’s four, a two-boat race won by USTC-Princeton’s Sarah Hendershot, Emily Regan, Kara Kohler and Sara Zelenka in 7:14.06 over the entry from USTC-Oklahoma City of Mary Jeghers, Meg George, Megan Smith and Hilary Cumbest.

For complete results of the 2011 Senior World Championships Trials, visit http://www.usrowing.org/.

OKC Athletes Set for Mercer Lake Showdown

2011-08-03T17:25:00.000-05:00

It’s anyone’s game now.

Following two days of heats and repechages on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. this week, the final four boats in 12 of 13 events at the 2011 Senior World Championship Trials in West Windsor, N.J., have been sorted out.

In contention to represent the United States at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia are five Olympic events including the women’s single sculls, men’s double sculls, men’s pair, women’s pair and lightweight men’s double sculls and seven non-Olympic events including the lightweight men’s single sculls, lightweight women’s single sculls, lightweight men’s pair, men’s pair with coxswain, lightweight men’s quadruple sculls, lightweight women’s quadruple sculls and the women’s four. The lightweight men’s eight is rowing uncontested.

Today’s racing featured repechages in the men’s pair and the men’s double sculls, and semifinals in the women single sculls and the lightweight men’s single sculls.

Advancing to the final in the first repechage of the of the men’s pair was USRowing Training Center-Chula Vista’s Matthew Wheeler and David Banks with a time of 6:59.12 ahead of Oklahoma City athletes Andrew Melander and Henry Cole. Advancing from the second race in a time of 7:00.48 was Penn A.C. Rowing Association’s Stephen Kasprzyk and Joseph Spencer.

Justin Stangel

They will be joined in the final by USTC-Oklahoma City’s entries of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel and Silas Stafford and Ryan Monaghan.
In the men’s double sculls repechage, the composite crew of Stephen Whelpley and William Cowles and Durham Boat Club’s Michael Sivigny and Deaglan McEachern advanced to the final. Oklahoma City's Martin Etem and Ryan Shelton finished in third place.

Whelpley and Cowles, and Sivigny and McEachern, held the top two positions for what appeared to be most of the race. They were pushed hard by the USTC-Oklahoma City entry until the Durham crew dug in, ensuring them a spot in the final.

They will face Craftsbury Sculling Center brothers Tom and Peter Graves and USTC-Chula Vista’s Wes Piermarini and Jamie Koven tomorrow morning.

“We stayed long; we probably could have shortened up the stroke a little bit in the sprint,” said Sivigny. “But we just held our ground and stayed ahead of the OKC boat. They moved into us a little bit but we stayed in front, if I remember right,”

“It looks pretty good,” he said of the upcoming final. “Now there are four of us. We’re just focused on more rhythm and more run. We’ll work on our finish tonight and hopefully we’re coming out on top. That’s the goal.”

Racing resumes tomorrow with finals in all events beginning at 7:30 a.m. Heat sheets and results are available at www.usrowing.org. Finals will be streamed live on http://rowing.teamusa.org/live.

World Championship Trials - OKC Pairs Charge into Final

2011-08-03T00:17:00.002-05:00

The quest for a trip to the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia for 13 crews began this morning on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

In contention at the 2011 Senior World Championship Trials are five Olympic events, including the women's single sculls, men's double sculls, men's pair, women's pair and lightweight men's double sculls and seven non-Olympic events including the lightweight men's single sculls, lightweight women's single sculls, lightweight men's pair, men's pair with coxswain, lightweight men's quadruple sculls, lightweight women's quadruple sculls and the women's four. The lightweight men's eight is rowing uncontested.

The men's pair has seven entries. Advancing out of the heats to the final were the USRowing Training Center-Oklahoma City's entries of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel, and Silas Stafford and Ryan Monaghan. Peszek and Stangel had the best time of the morning, finishing in 6:33.01.

With only four entries, the men's pair with coxswain event was also a race for lanes. Rowing the best time of the morning with a 7:17.96 was the USRTC-Oklahoma City's crew of Marcus McElhenney, Brandon Shald and Brad Bertoldo.

With only one entry, the lightweight men's eight USTC-Oklahoma City/Hanover Training Camp composite crew of coxswain John Carlson, Jimmy Sopko, Kenny McMahon, Christian Klein, Will Newell, Edward King, Matt Kochem and Austin Meyer rowed the course and clocked in with a time of 5:55.86.

The lightweight women's quadruple sculls had two entries with the USTC-Oklahoma City/Pocock Rowing Center/Riverside composite crew of Nicole Dinion, Hillary Saeger, Lindsey Hochman and Katherine Robinson had the best time with a 6:39.43.

Finals in all events are scheduled for Thursday morning. Heat sheets and results are available at www.usrowing.org. Finals will be streamed live on http://rowing.teamusa.org/live.

Five OKC Athletes Named to 2011 US Adaptive World Championship Team

2011-08-01T00:22:00.000-05:00

Four adaptive crews have been named to the U.S. National Team that will compete at the 2011 World Rowing Championships to be held August 28-September 4 in Bled, Slovenia.

Three crews – the men’s and women’s single sculls and mixed trunk and arms double sculls – earned berths by winning their respective finals at the 2011 Adaptive World Championships Trials, held in conjunction with the Junior and Under 23 World Championships Trials on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J in June.

Final-only racing was contested over 1,000-meters. In the double, USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Anthony Davis and Jacqui Kapinowski crossed the finish line 15.1 seconds ahead of Louisville Rowing Club/Greater Louisville Rowing Foundation’s Oksana Masters and Augusto Perez for the win.

Davis and Kapinowski posted a time of 4:17.16 to Masters and Perez’s 4:32.17.

“We had a really good start,” said Davis. “When we got past the red buoys, we kicked it up and brought our stroke rate up to 35 (strokes per minute) and we just held that.

“It seemed like we were just flying. The 250-meter mark came, then the 500, and then the 750. With 250 left, I remember looking at (Masters and Perez) and thinking, there’s no way that they can beat us; this is our race. We just kept going and it felt good.”

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Kapinowski, a 2010 Paralympic curler. “I’m very excited. It’s a phenomenal feeling. Tony and I have worked our butts off since April on the water and it paid off today. We believed in each other. The water was quite rough, but we’re very used to rowing every day in strong winds in Oklahoma.”

In the women’s single, USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Tricia Downing also raced unopposed to earn a spot on the U.S. National Team. Downing, a Denver-native and first-time national team member in rowing, clocked a 7:04.40 at the line.

“It was a really good experience for my first time racing,” said Downing. “I think I got exactly the time I was hoping for. I think I gave it a good effort and was pretty psyched with my finish. It was a little bit nerve-wracking, not because there were all these people competing around me, but because I wanted to make sure I did the proper procedures and knew what was going on. It was nice to have Ron sitting next to me as a good role model.”

Downing is a multi-sport athlete, having competed for the U.S. National Triathlon Team prior to taking up rowing just a few short months ago.

“I was a little burnt out on triathlon and wanted to try something new,” said Downing. “I had some shoulder issues and over-use issues with being in a hand cycle and pushing the racing chair. I was looking for the ways to strengthen my shoulder muscles. I came to rowing to kind of balance out my body, but I’m always a competitor and I’m always looking for competition.”

Preuschl

In addition to the trials crews, the camp-selected adaptive mixed four with coxswain crew has been named. The lineup of Alex Stein, Eric McDaniel, Eleni Englert and Oklahoma City's Emma Preuschl and Andrew Johnson will represent the U.S. at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

Four of the athletes – McDaniel, Paralympic silver-medalist Preuschl, Englert and Johnson – finished sixth in the event at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand.

Senior World Championship Trials Preview - OKC athletes poised to compete

2011-07-31T22:27:00.000-05:00

Meg George

Racing for the final spots on the 2011 U.S. National Team begins this week at the 2011 World Rowing Championships Trials August 1-4 at the Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center. The winning crews will represent the United States at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Racing will be held in the women’s single sculls, lightweight men’s single sculls, lightweight women’s single sculls, men’s pair, women’s pair, lightweight men’s pair, lightweight women's double, men’s pair with coxswain, men’s double sculls, lightweight men’s quadruple sculls, lightweight women’s quadruple sculls, women’s four and lightweight men’s eight.

Racing begins on Tuesday with 25 OKC High Performance athletes in action:

Men's 2x

Tom Peszek

Martin Etem, Ryan Shelton

Men's 2-
Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel
Andrew Melander and Henry Cole
Ryan Monaghan (with Chula Vista Training Center's Silas Stafford)

Men's 2+
Blaise Didier and Derek Johnson (coxswain Anthony Altimari)
Brandon Shald and Brad Bertoldo (coxswain Marcus McElhenney)

Lightweight Men's 8+
Kenny McMahon, Christian Klein, Austin Meyer, Nick LaCava, Jimmy Sopko, Will Newell, Ed Mix King

Lightweight Women's 4x
Nicole Dinion (with K Robinson, L Hochman and H Saeger)

Women's 4-
Mary Jeghers, Meg George, Megan Smith, Hilary Cumbest

Lightweight Men's 2x
Bob Duff and Tom Paradiso

OKC's James Twins Named to 2011 US National Rowing Team

2011-07-31T21:33:00.000-05:00

Ross James

PRINCETON, N.J. – The six camp-selected boats that will represent the United States at the 2011 World Rowing Championships August 28-September 4 in Bled, Slovenia, have been named, USRowing announced on Tuesday. The include the women's eight, men's eight, men's quad, women's quad, men's four, and the lightweight men's four.

Competing in the men’s eight will be coxswain Ned DelGuercio, Nareg Guregian, Josh Inman, Steven Coppola, Dan Walsh, Henrik Rummel, Alex Osborne, and Oklahoma City High Performance Center athletes, Grant James and Ross James.

Inman, Coppola and Walsh won bronze in the eight at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. DelGuercio, Guregian, Walsh and Rummel return from last year’s world championship squad.

Grant James

Under the direction of OKC's Head Coach, Bryan Volpenhein, four OKC athletes will represent the United States in the lightweight men’s four. The boat will consist of 2010 under 23 bronze-medalist Robin Prendes, Beijing Olympian Will Daly, Ryan Fox and Anthony Fahden. Daly, Fox and Fahden were members of the boat that finished 10th in New Zealand.

The rest of the senior national team squad will be named at the conclusion of the 2011 World Rowing Championships Trials August 1-4, 2011.

OKC Athletes Outstanding at National Selection Regatta

2011-05-16T22:02:00.000-05:00

The 2nd National Selection Regatta held on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, NJ is the first step to earning selection to the national team that will compete in Bled, Slovenia at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

With impressive results in the semi finals, athletes representing the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center showed they were ready to compete against the best in the country.
In the women’s double sculls event - advancing with a win in the first semifinal were USRowing TC – Princeton’s team of Kate Bertko and Sarah Trowbridge in a 7:11.97. In second with a time of 7:13.99 was USRowing TC – Princeton’s Natalie Dell and Stesha Carle followed in third by USRowing TC – Oklahoma City’s Meg George and Potomac Boat Club’s Stefanie Kozuszek with a time of 7:18.18.

In the men’s pair, USRowing TC – OKC’s Andrew Melander and Ryan Monaghan won the first semifinal with a time of 6:42.38. In second was the USRowing TC – OKC's pair of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel with a time of 6:42.59, followed in third by USRowing TC – Chula Vista’s Charlie Cole and Scott Gault in 6:42.78.

In the second semifinal of the men's pair, Brett Newlin and Giuseppe Lanzone won with a time of 6:48.70. In second was the pair of USRowing Training Center – OKC’s brothers Grant and Ross James with a time of 6:49.92, followed in third by USRowing TC – Chula Vista’s Alex Osborne and Steven Coppola with a time of 6:50.02.

Racing next were the lightweight women’s double sculls. Advancing in the first semifinal was USRowing TC – OKC’s Abby Broughton and Ursula Grobler with a time of 7:17.14. In second was the crew of USRowing TC – OKC Chelsea Smith and Michelle Sechser in a time of 7:25.79, followed in third with a time of 7:29.81 by the Vesper Boat Club’s Victoria Burke and GMS Rowing Center’s Jeannette Daley.

In the second semifinal, University of California, Berkley – Women’s Alumni’s Julie Nichols and University of Wisconsin’s Kristin Hedstrom won in a 7:20.95, followed in second by USRowing TC – OKC’s Hillary Saeger and Nicole Dinion with a time of 7:25.86. In third were Pocock Rowing Center’s Katherine Robinson and Lindsay Hochman with a time of 7:28.65.

Advancing out of the second semifinal of the lightweight men's double sculls, in first place with a time of 6:44.82 was GMS’s Richard Klein and Todd Mickleson. In second was USRowing Training Center – OKC’s Bob Duff and Vesper’s John Kapteyn with a time of 6:46.98. Advancing third in 6:50.37 were Vesper’s Mike Vukich and Dan Scholz.
Next came the finals...

In the women’s double sculls, the USRowing TC – Princeton duo of Kate Bertko and Sarah Trowbridge won with a time of 7:11.96. USRowing TC - Princeton’s Megan Kalmoe and Cambridge Boat Club’s Gevvie Stone were second in a time of 7:12.66. In third were USRowing TC – Princeton’s Natalie Dell and Stesha Carle in 7:12.92. USRowing TC – Oklahoma City’s Meg George and Potomac Boat Club’s Stefanie Kozuszek finished 6th with a time of 7:29.64.

The men’s pair final was next with the USRowing TC – Chula Vista crew of Charlie Cole and Scott Gault winning in a time of 6:44.56. Cole and Gault took the lead early and held through to the finish. The USRowing TC – Oklahoma City crew of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel finished second in 6:46.15 and USRowing TC – OKC’s Andrew Melander and Ryan Monaghan were third in 6:47.09. In fifht was the pair of USRowing Training Center – OKC’s brothers Grant and Ross James with a time of 6:50.49.

“The race was great,” said Cole. “We had a tough path. There were a lot of good crews here. Those Oklahoma City guys are doing really well. We got out and we just wanted to have a better race than the semi and take control.”

The final two events were the lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls.

In the lightweight men’s final, GMS Rowing Center’s Brian de Regt and Jon Winter led the entire race and finished in a time of 6:38.77. Undine Barge Club’s Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg and Vesper’s Matt Bokermann was second in 6:43.89. USRowing Training Center – Oklahoma City’s Bob Duff and Vesper’s John Kapteyn finished third in 6:45.54.

In the lightweight women’s final, University of California – Berkley Women’s Alumni’s Julie Nichols and University of Wisconsin’s Kristin Hedstrom won with a time of 7:14.12. USRowing TC – OKC’s Abby Broughton and Ursula Grobler were second in 7:16.14. USRowing TC – OKC’s Hillary Saeger and Nicole Dinion followed in third with a time of 7:20.98. In 5th place was the crew of USRowing TC – OKC Chelsea Smith and Michelle Sechser in a time of 7:25.12.

Volpenhein Named Interim Head Coach of Oklahoma City National High Performance Center

2011-05-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

Bryan Volpenhein has been named the interim head coach of the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center, USRowing announced on Saturday.

Volpenhein, who joined the coaching staff in August of 2010, had been serving as the lightweight men’s coach at the OKC National High Performance Center since December. A three-time Olympian and 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the men’s eight, Volpenhein helped coach the U.S. to a silver medal in the lightweight men’s eight and a bronze medal in the lightweight women's quadruple sculls at the 2009 World Rowing Championships.

Volpenhein replaces John Parker, who has left USRowing.

It's a Living: OKC Boathouse Rowing Coach

2011-04-14T23:45:00.000-05:00

Oklahoma River's Boathouse District Gains International Fame

2011-03-23T14:10:00.000-05:00

OKC National High Performance Center athlete Michelle Sechser is featured in today's NEWSOK:

Oklahoma River's Boathouse District Gains International Fame

Stars and Stripes at the Devon Boathouse

2011-03-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

Check out USRowing's coverage of the 2012 Friend's of the Oklahoma River event at the Devon Boathouse:

Stars and Stripes

Meet the Olympic hopefuls who now live and train in Oklahoma City and discover how you can get involved!

2011-03-21T17:28:00.000-05:00

OKC National High Performance Center athletes are focused on being ready for London 2010.

Their Olympic Dreams are fueled by a desire to compete at the highest level of sport for themselves, for the United States and now for their new home, Oklahoma City.

Please join us for a 2012 Friends of the Oklahoma River reception to learn how you can become part of the Oklahoma Ciyt's community effort to support these US Olympic hopefuls in both rowing and sprint kayaking.

Tuesday, March 22, 5 to 7 PM - Wine - Hors d'oeuvres

Oklahoma City National High Perfromance Center at the Devon Boathouse, Boathouse District
725 South Lincoln Blvd.

More Empachers Arrive in OKC !!

2011-03-21T11:52:00.000-05:00

Ryan Fox: Reaching for the Stars

2011-03-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

Check out the March 17th article from USRowing featuring Oklahoma City Resident Ryan Fox:

Reaching for the Stars

Sopko vs. Daly

2011-03-16T17:56:00.000-05:00

OKC High Performance athletes Will Daly and Jimmy Sopko battle using XBOX 360 in the Altitude Room at the Devon Boathouse!

Congressman Lankford to Honor HPC Athlete Andrew Melander

2011-03-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

Check out the link below to the NEWSOK article:

Oklahoma Scene

Also check out World Champion Jamie Redman's Blog for her thoughts on OKC

2011-02-24T15:44:00.000-06:00

Here is the link to Redman's blog:

Oklahoma!

World Champion Esther Lofgren Shares Her OKC Experience

2011-02-24T15:02:00.000-06:00

Check out Lofgren's blog "Harder.Better.Faster.Stronger"!

Howdy From Oklahoma!

OMRF's Olympic Hopeful - Ryan Fox

2011-02-21T12:02:00.000-06:00

Check out a recent article about Oklahoma City National High Performance Center athlete, Ryan Fox, featured on the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation website:

OMRF's Olympic Hopeful

Train Alongside Olympic Athletes at the Devon Boathouse

2011-02-20T18:33:00.002-06:00

Check out the full story featured on News9 at:

http://www.news9.com/Global/story.asp?S=14061394

Meet the USRowing Senior Women's Team Tonight

2011-02-17T15:59:00.000-06:00

Join us at the Devon Boathouse tonight for a reception with the USRowing Senior Women's Team and meet gold medal winners from the 2010 World Championships and their Olympic gold medal winning coxswain, Mary Whipple. The women will be in OKC for a two-week training camp at the OKC National High Performance Center located in the new Devon Boathouse.

During the come-and-go reception from 5-8p, tour the state-of-the-art fitness facilities at the Devon Boathouse. Amenities include extensive strength and cardio training equipment, an endless pool, a high altitude training chamber, and an indoor rowing tank.

Volpenhein Throws Down 1172 Watts in Street Clothes

2011-01-30T20:02:00.000-06:00

In street clothes, with no warm up, OKC coach and Olympic Gold medallist - Bryan Volpenhein, pulls 1172 watts during a max wattage test on a stationary Concept II ergometer. Could this be a come back ?!

OKC Residents Participate in US Men's National Team Winter Camp

2011-01-25T20:41:00.001-06:00

Eleven Oklahoma City athletes were invited to attend the US Men's National Team Winter Camp at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California:

Aaron Marcovy
Tom Peszek
Ryan Monaghan
Deaglan McEachern
Martin Etem

Max Goff

Scott Morgan

Robert Duff

Matt Muffleman

Kenny McMahon

Ryan Fox

Invitees also included future OKC residents Nick LaCava, Jimmy Sopko, Anthony Fahden, Robin Prendes, and 2008 Olympian Will Daly.

The three week camp, which brought together the top open weight and lightweight male rowers in the country, began January 2nd and concluded on Saturday.

USRowing OKC Training Center Residencies Available

2010-12-31T11:07:00.001-06:00

http://okchighperformance.blogspot.com/p/usrowing-oklahoma-city-training-center.html

More information about residencies will be available at the January 15 USRowing ID Camp hosted at the new High Performance Center.

2010-11 USRowing Men’s and Women's National Team ID Camp in Oklahoma City

2010-12-26T17:37:00.002-06:00

2010-11 USRowing Men’s and Women's National Team ID Camp - Oklahoma City

The USRowing Men’s and Women's Identification Camp is to identify athletes throughout the United States with U-23 or Senior National Team potential. These camp offers the opportunity for athletes across the country to:

Demonstrate their talents on the erg and potentially on the water
Mix it up with other talented athletes
Learn more about the national team
Meet national team coaches

This is also a chance for national team coaches to identify top athletes earlier in the year in order to effectively direct them to camps that will further their potential: Freshman Camp, Development, Pre-Elite, U-23 Selection, Senior Selection, etc.

Target Athletes:

The open camp in OKC is targeted to collegiate men or women with U-23 or Senior National Team potential and aspirations. Those who are recently out of college or in graduate school also are encouraged to attend.

Rowers: Male rowers can be aspiring to the U-23 or Senior National Team with an erg range under 6:10 for 2k and 19:30 for 6k for open weight men and 6:25 for 2k and 20:20 for 6k for lightweight men.

For open weight female rowers, the erg range is under 7:15 for 2k or 23:15 for 6k.

Coxswains: We will need 2-3 coxswains per camp. However, this is not intended to be a coxswain identification camp. Coxswains can learn, possibly assist and have the opportunity to cox or ride in a launch if space is available. Please contact me if you have an interested coxswain.

Date and Location:

The camp will consist of erg testing and presentations about test results, summer rowing opportunities, national team q &a etc. Erg testing will include a max power test, one-minute test and a 30-minute test. A limited number of athletes will be selected to row based on their erg performance. The tentative schedule is below. Specific details and schedule will be sent to participants prior to the camp.

Saturday, Jan. 15: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Oklahoma City, Ok - Boathouse District

Deadline

Please sign up at least one week before the scheduled event.

Registration:

Please e-mail Jeremy Ivey at jeremy@usrowing.org with the following information for interested athletes: name of athlete/s, USRowing number, e-mail address, age, year in school, height, weight, preferred side, sculling experience (race experience yes/no) and erg scores (2k and 6k or the equivalent).

Confirmation e-mails will be sent to athletes with more detailed information about two weeks before each camp date.

Each athlete must be a current member of USRowing. If they are not, please have them register or renew their full privileged membership at http://www.usrowing.org/. This membership is valid for a full year and is required to attend USRowing camps in the summer as well.

Additionally, each athlete must complete a USRowing waiver also available at http://www.usrowing.org/.
There will be a $20 fee for each camp participant. The fee will be collected on-site the day of the camp and can be paid by cash or check made payable to Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation.

Other Men's Camp Dates and Locations:

Sunday, Nov. 14            9 a.m-2 p.m.            Princeton, N.J.            Princeton University
Saturday, Nov. 20            11 a.m.-4 p.m.            Charlottesville, Va.            University of Virginia
Sunday, Dec. 121 p.m.-6 p.m.            Boston, Mass.            Harvard’s Newell Boathouse
Saturday, Jan. 2211 a.m.-4 p.m.            Seattle, Wash.            University of Washington
Sunday, Jan. 309 a.m.-2 p.m.            San Francisco, Calif.                        UC Berkeley

Other Women's Camp Dates and Locations:

Sunday, November 14            9 a.m.- 2 p.m.            Princeton, N.J.            Princeton University
Saturday, November 2011 a.m.-4 p.m.            Charlottesville, Va.            University of Virginia
Sunday, November 219 a.m.-2 p.m.            Bloomington, Ind.            Indiana University
Saturday, January 15            9 a.m.-2 p.m.            Oklahoma City, Okla.            Chesapeake Boathouse
Saturday, January 22            11 a.m.-4 p.m.            Seattle, Wash.            University of Washington
Sunday, January 30            9 a.m.-2 p.m.            San Francisco, Calif.            UC Berkeley
Saturday, February 129 a.m.-2 p.m.            Los Angeles, Calif.            UCLA

Santa Fe High School Rowing Team says "Thanks!"

2010-12-16T14:50:00.004-06:00

The Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation received the following letter from the Santa Fe South Rowing team who participated in the RIVERSPORT High School Rowing League during the 2010 fall season. Members of the OKC NHPC Stuart Sloan, Brandon Shald and Meg George coached the five teams in the league.

We would like you to know how much we enjoyed the privilege to participate in this program. The eleven of us who made up our team come from diverse backgrounds, socially, academically, and physically. While we are often given the opportunity at our school to mix with other students from different social and academic circumstances, for some, this was one of the rare occasions to participate in a team sport and even any sport at all. For others, this was simply a chance to be involved with a different type of team sport.

We signed up for the rowing team for various reasons, but each of us wanted the challenge of doing something new and unique. In the process of learning the mechanics and attempting to become a team, we have learned not only to appreciate the sport of rowing but hopefully to apply the lessons learned in our practices which will help us in our academic endeavors and in our lives. A few of us are now ready to continue on the path, whether it includes joining the junior rowing team or continuing on a college team; most are at least eagerly anticipating the opportunity to participate in another water sports program as well as to increase our knowledge and abilities of rowing.

We may have finished this course – and even done well in placing second in the races thanks to our dedicated coach, Stewart, but we are not done with rowing. Our oars are set and prepared to propel us forward into our futures, futures that we now believe will contain the opportunity to pursue the fun and challenging sport of rowing. So, we would like to offer our thanks to you and your company for making possible our participation in the school rowing program this year.

Sincerely,

The Santa Fe South Rowing Team 2010

New Equipment Assembled at the Devon Boathouse

2010-12-13T20:12:00.000-06:00

Athletes build their own erg before evening practice.

Finishing Touches: The Devon Boathouse

2010-12-10T15:52:00.000-06:00

Installed Hypoxic Room (Altitude) Equipment

Indoor Propulsion Swimming Pool

View from the Devon Boathouse Observation Deck

Main Launch Area

Athlete Ice Bath

Happy Holidays !!

Video: Ryan Monaghan reflects on his first World Championship experience

2010-11-24T14:18:00.003-06:00

Oklahoma City resident, Ryan Monaghan, represented the United States in the Men's Pair event at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand this month. Monaghan, with teammate Deaglan McEachern,earned their berth to the team with a win at the 2010 World Championships Trials. Monaghan is a first-time national team member, while McEachern finished ninth in the quadruple sculls at the 2007 World Rowing Championships.

In their first race of the regatta, the duo advanced to Semi-Final A of the Men's Pair event by placing 3rd in Heat 2 with a time of 6:37.20. The defending World Champions from New Zealand finished in first place with a time of 6:25.12, followed by Serbia in 6:35.32.

Despite a hard fought race, Monaghan and McEachern did not qualify for the A final of this Olympic class event, finishing fifth in a time of 7:20.64. From the 500-meter mark, the top three crews – New Zealand, Great Britain and Italy – separated from the pack and pushed into a lead of several boat lengths of open water. New Zealand won with a time of 6:50.88.

In Final B of the Men'a pair the crew started in fourth and rowed into third through the middle 1,000 meters, finishing behind Spain for an ninth place world ranking in a time of 6:39.34.

Celebrating a Season of Success at the Oklahoma River

2010-11-23T23:27:00.002-06:00

Video: The last beam is lifted to roof of the Chesapeake Finish Tower, completing the entire frame. A glowing holiday tree lights up as the beam reaches the top. Architect Rand Elliot provides a toast to the incredible growth of Oklahoma City's acclaimed Boathouse District.

Photo: OKC athletes start the holiday season with a bang - erg testing in the Chesapeake Boathouse

2010-11-20T19:34:00.002-06:00

Final Worlds Update

2010-11-07T12:40:00.002-06:00

The men’s eight that had rowed to a stunning win in the reps on Thursday, could not duplicate the feat and finished sixth. Germany snatched gold with a time of 5:33.84, followed by Great Britain in 5:34.46 and Australia in 5:35.96. The U.S. crew of coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Mark Murphy (Madison, Wis.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.) finished with a time of 5:40.55.

While the men failed to medal, the U.S. returned both the four and eight to the final, after a ninth place finish last year for the eight.

The men’s lightweight eight crew of coxswain Stephen Young (Tampa, Fla.), Matt Kochem (Burnt Hills, N.Y.), Kenny McMahon (Ladysmith, Wis.), Matt Muffelman (Mathews, Va.), Jimmy Sopko (Mathews, Va.), Michael Kerrigan (Charlottesville, Va.), Julian Bowling (Shelby, N.C.), Bob Duff (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) and Skip Dise (Beverly Hills, Mich) rowed next, but could not get to the podium either, finishing last in a five-boat race with a time of 5:57.65.

Germany won gold in a time of 5:48.61, Australia was second in 5:50.27 and Italy finished third in 5:52.25.

Justin Stangel Signing Off From New Zealand

2010-11-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

Well its been about 7 years since I have raced in an international final (in 2003 I was in the USA junior 8+) and it was just as I remembered it. Everyone wants to win and everyone has the skill to do it so it depends on who shows up on the day. Yesterday that happened to be the Australians who jumped to an early lead with Italy in the first 500m of the race. We have had good starts in training and racing so this caught us a little off guard and might have kept us a little higher in rate but we were still in the race. As we got into the second 500 the conditions started to bounce us around a bit, there was a decent crosswind that swirled a bit from head to tail all the way down the course. I thought we responded well during this and made the right technical corrections that allowed us to keep pushing hard. Coming through the 1000m mark we were pretty far off the lead pace, but that had never stopped us before and we still had a bit of overlap with the Germans next to us.

Coming into the the third 500 we knew we needed to start making moves to get ourselves in contention for a medal. This part of the course had the most wind and Nareg and I handled it pretty well but we weren't able to make up as much as we would have liked and have to give credit to the other crews who rowed a good race through this point. If you have watched any of our races from trials you know that we have a furious sprint when we put our minds to it and that was no different today. After fighting the crews and conditions all the way down the course we started to bump it up at 600m and then again about every 200m until the finish. The field narrowed significantly at the finish and I remember Steve, our cox, say that if we were able to catch the Germans we might be able to get the Italians as well. We gave it everything we had, but came up just short this time. No one wants to finish 4th in any race especially in the one with 4 boats, but those were some quality crews and this was a good learning experience for everyone involved. After the race we tried to think of things we would have done differently and couldn't really come up with anything except maybe a better start and even then that was pretty good for us, we truly left it all on the water - no regrets.

Today is the last day of racing at the world championships and looks to be an exciting one with both the men and women race the 8+ this afternoon. We have experienced nothing but the best hospitality from the host country and if you ever have a chance to come visit this fine country I highly recommend it, especially the South Island. This will probably be it for my posts of worlds this year. I can not thank everyone enough for their support to help get me to this point. Especially to my parents Nan and Jim for their unwavering support and brother Griffin for pushing me to keep going (he is now hooked on triathlons, I'm jealous). Also to everyone at the OKC High Performance Center and the OKC community (Big shout out and thank you to the Skirvin Hilton!) for being so welcoming and helpful to us athletes as we train hard for our Olympic ambitions. I cannot forget everyone from the SARA community that has helped in many different ways, but especially helping to fund this amazing trip to worlds. I could go on and on... Thank you everyone who isn't mentioned above, we couldn't achieve this without support like yours.

Again this was a great racing experience and now its back to work for this short year, second NSR is in just over 6 months.

On to faster times

Justin

Pictures from New Zealand !!

2010-11-06T03:47:00.000-05:00

Worlds Update

2010-11-06T03:36:00.002-05:00

The lightweight men’s pair duo of Oklahoma City's Mike Nucci (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Evan Tsourtsoulas (Kastoria, Greece) raced in the B final, finishing third behind China and Switzerland and ninth overall in the regatta with a time of 7:37.54. China finished in 7:30.36.

The men’s pair with coxswain crew of Stephen Young (Tampa, Fla.), Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.) and OKC resident Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) got of the line in fourth in the four boat race, and could not change the position, finishing with a time of 7:07.88. Australia won in 703.32, followed by Italy in 7:04.38 and Germany in 7:06.20.

Leading off the day for the U.S. in the B finals was the lightweight men’s four. The crew of Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), OKC's Ryan Fox (Edgerton, Wis.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.) started fourth, climbed into third in the middle half, but fell back and finished fourth in a time of 6:05.57 to capture 10th place overall. France won in a time of 6:02.19.

The Oklahoma City men’s pair duo of Ryan Monaghan (Rochester, N.Y.) and Deaglan McEachern (Portsmouth, N.H.) started in fourth and rowed into third through the middle 1,000 meters, finishing behind Spain for an eighth place world ranking in a time of 6:39.34. Russia won in a time of 6:37.33.

Peszek and USA Men's 8+ into Medal Round

2010-11-03T23:24:00.002-05:00

In a morning that had not gone particularly well for the U.S. crews before it at the 2010 World Rowing Championships, the U.S. men’s eight rowed a stunning repechage, pulling through Canada in the final 500 meters and holding off a late charge by New Zealand to win its race and return the U.S. to the final again.

After finishing third in the heat on Tuesday, there was trepidation among the U.S. contingent that the crew, which has been rebuilding throughout the year, could finish in the first two spots and make a return to the top.

The belief in the talent was there, it was just that it would take an incredible performance to beat the Canadians and the home favorite Kiwis.

As expected, Canada jumped into the lead off the line and the crew of DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Mark Murphy (Madison, Wis.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.) went after them.

Canada led right into the third quarter of the course, with the U.S. trading seats beside them. But when New Zealand started to challenge, the Canadians faded and the U.S. went high and hard, finishing a hair ahead of the Kiwi boat in a time of 5:38.48 to 5:39.08.

Now the eight will race the final Sunday in the last race of the regatta and face New Zealand, Australia and The Netherlands, which finished first and second in the second rep, in addition to heat winners Germany and Great Britain.

Seven U.S. crews raced today. In addition to the men’s eight, the lightweight men’s four, the men’s and women’s single sculls, men’s pair, arms-only men’s single sculls and the legs, trunk and arms mixed four with coxswain also saw action.

The lightweight men’s four crew of Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Oklahoma City's Ryan Fox (Edgerton, Wis.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.), topped the day’s card, racing in the second semifinal, but the crew could not find its way into the top three.

Falling behind off the line, the U.S. made a push in the middle and seemed prepared to threaten the lead boats, but the attack fell apart in the third quarter of the race. They fell back into fifth, finishing in a time of 6:30. Great Britain won with a time of 6:20.48.

Following the lightweight four in the first semifinal of the men’s pair, the Oklahoma City crew of Ryan Monaghan (Rochester, N.Y.) and Deaglan McEachern (Portsmouth, N.H.) also missed the opportunity to race in the final, finishing fifth in a time of 7:20.64.

From the 500-meter mark, the top three crews – New Zealand, Great Britain and Italy – separated from the pack and pushed into a lead of several boat lengths of open water. New Zealand won with a time of 6:50.88.

More Worlds Coverage From NZ

2010-11-02T11:51:00.003-05:00

The men’s eight, with Oklahoma City's Tom Peszek, raced in the second of two heats, finishing third and moving to a repechage Thursday.

The U.S. crew of coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Mark Murphy (Madison, Wis.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.) fell to fourth place in the first three-quarters of the race and then pushed through The Netherlands in the final 500 meters and closed on Australia, which finished second.

The U.S. clocked in with a 5:28.57. Great Britain, the only crew in the heat to advance straight to the final, won with a time of 5:25.34. Germany won the first heat to advance with a time of 5:24.62.

In the boats that raced for lanes, the men’s pair with coxswain team of Stephen Young (Tampa, Fla.), Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.) and Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) finished fourth out of four with a time of 6:58.18. Australia won in 6:55.11.

In the first race of the day for the U.S., the lightweight men’s pair team of Mike Nucci (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Evan Tsourtsoulas (Kastoria, Greece), finished fourth in the second repechage with a time of 6:45.98 and were relegated to the B final Friday. Italy won the race with a time of 6:34.77.

2010 World Rowing Championships U.S. Results
Lake Karapiro, New Zealand
Tuesday, November 2

Lightweight Men’s Pair: Repechage 2. (Top two advance to semifinals)
1. Italy - 6:34.77
2. Canada - 6:34.81
3. China - 6:37.20
4. U.S. - 6:45.98

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls: Repechage 2. (Top three advance to semifinals)
1. Norway - 6:21.80
2. U.S. - 6:22.14
3. Greece - 6:22.52

Women’s Single Sculls: Repechage 1. (Top three advance to semifinals)
1. U.S. - 7:50.56
2. Ukraine – 8:02.99
3. Spain – 8:42.45

Men’s Single Sculls: Repechage 4. (Top two advance to semifinals)
1. Belgium – 6:49.82
2. U.S. – 6:52.55
3. The Netherlands – 6:54.21

Men’s Pair with Coxswain: Preliminary race for lanes.
1. Australia – 6:55.11
2. Germany – 6:56.18
3. Italy – 6:56.46
4. U.S. 6:58.18

Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls: Preliminary race for lanes.
1. China – 6:35.27
2. Great Britain - 6:38.75
3. Italy – 6:46.97
4. Germany - 7:04.03
5. Thailand - 7:12.48
6. U.S. - 7:37.75

Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Sculls: Preliminary race for lanes.
1. Italy – 5:57.07
2. France – 5:58.40
3. Denmark – 6:00.82
4. Brazil – 6:01.30
5. U.S. – 6:13.05
6. Germany – 7:05.72

Women’s Eight: Heat one of two. (Top two advance to the final)
1. U.S. – 6:00.52
2. Great Britain – 6:05.38
3. The Netherlands – 6:09.79

Men’s Eight: Heat two of two. (Winner advances to the final)
1. – Great Britain – 5:24.34
2. – Australia – 5:27.94
3. – U.S. – 5:28.57

Men’s Arms Only Single Sculls. Repechage one. (First and second advance to final)
1. Brazil – 4:57.77
2. Ukraine – 5:01.17
3. Ireland – 5:02.66
4. U.S. – 5:06.35
5. Poland – 5:10.31

Legs/Truck/Arms Four with Coxswain. (Top two advance to the final)
1. Ireland – 3:33.98
2. U.S. – 3:34.10
3. Italy – 3:35.51

Guest Blogger: Justin Stangel Recaps His First Race in New Zealand

2010-11-02T08:55:00.003-05:00

Today was the third day of World Championship racing and our first day to race. On the first day of the event they only ran 5 races, as the wind that had been held at bay finally came into town and with some force. We had practised in the conditions and needless to say it was a bit dicey for us in small boats but the bigger boats seemed ok. It was a bit tricky docking because you were in a direct cross of white caps that would either slam your shell into the dock or blow you too far on the downwind side for a coach to catch you without some athletic movements. After Sunday though racing has been run very smoothly with the regatta sending all of Sunday and Mondays racing down, with one minor slip up in the starting signals in the final adaptive race. Needless to say everyone was a little impressed.

As for today we went out for a light swing row before racing started, which is pretty easy here because races start pretty late in the day so you don't have to wake up early (there is a reason for this, we were told that racing cannot happen between 9-10 because the sun is directly opposite the finish line tower and it messes up the high speed camera for close races). By the end of the day everyone would have raced to one degree or another with the final heats starting today. Our race went down just after 11:15 and conditions were fast with a solid tailwind blowing and not much chop, if it weren't for the cold water there would be world best times for sure. We had a decent race with a fast start, it is interesting racing just for lanes with the outcome not having much significance except maybe psychological and maybe with lanes depending on who you talk to. With that being said it was tight racing - all crews were within 3 seconds and us on the back end of that. On to Saturday and the real race where everyone will be faster.

The rest of the week has been the talk today with the weather predictions coming in that Thursday and Friday might be really bad with a major storm supposedly coming. We might see some schedule adjustments to compensate for this, but there are about 100 different responses to what that might be. Team USA is still in high spirits after racing, with everyone still in the mix and looking to keep showing improved speed as semis and finals start working their way forward.

I hope everyone is doing well back home in the USA. It still feels a bit odd that worlds are after HOCR let alone Halloween.

On to faster times

Justin

2010-10-31T19:36:00.003-05:00

On the first day of racing at the 2010 World Rowing Championships, the weather became the bigger story. After only two events and five heats, racing was called off for the morning after the start of the first heat of the lightweight men’s double sculls.

One of the two events that got through the morning was the lightweight men’s pair. The U.S. duo of Oklahoma City athletes, Mike Nucci (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Evan Tsourtsoulas (Kastoria, Greece), who were facing New Zealand, France, Denmark, China and Switzerland, finished third.

Nucci and Tsourtsoulas moved into third at the start and stayed there for the length of the course. New Zealand won in a time of 6:33.25, followed by France in 6:36.48 and then the U.S. in 6:41.73. They will race again on Tuesday in the repechage, or second-chance race.

When racing resumed today, more OKC athletes were in action. Ryan Fox and the USA Lightweight Men's Four placed 2nd in Heat 3, successfully advancing the crew to Semi- Final A. Switzerland finished first in 5:57.31.

OKC's Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern also advanced to Semi-Final A of the Men's Pair event by placing 3rd in Heat 2 with a time of 6:37.20. New Zealand was first in 6:25.12, followed by Serbia in 6:35.32.

Preparing for the Podium: 2010 World Rowing Championships

2010-10-29T09:43:00.004-05:00

Assistant OKCNHPC Coach Bryan Volpenhein Analyzes Team USA

With the arrival of more crews at Lake Karapiro, the relaxed, rowing camp-like atmosphere athletes have enjoyed will cease to exist. There’s only one day to go before the start of the 2010 World Rowing Championship, and the tension will ramp up as more than 800 athletes gather to compete.

It’s a scene Bryan Vopenhein is very familiar with. Just two years ago he was sitting stroke seat in the men’s eight. Today he’s leading athletes from the coaching launch. And to his highly trained eye, Team USA is looking pretty good.

“I think we’ll definitely improve from last year, as the team looks pretty solid across the board. But how crews look in practice is not always how they look when racing,” said Volpenhein. “For us, performing well in the heats will be critical – the better we do early the more confidence it will give us throughout the regatta.”

Volpenhein was named to Team USA’s coaching staff for the lightweight men’s pair, lightweight men’s straight four and lightweight men’s eight for this year’s event, which takes place later in the year than it normally would to take advantage of spring weather in the southern hemisphere.

“Our season has been longer than it usually is due to the date change for Worlds. We haven’t raced in awhile, but the team is doing well – they all seem in good spirits and are excited to race,” said Volpenhein.

Pre-race excitement is still fresh in Volpenhein’s mind, though this is his second appearance as part of the coaching staff for Worlds.

“Last year was harder on me for sure, seeing people race and being only one year out of it myself. This year I feel more like a coach. I guess there will always be part of me that wants to get out there. I would be worried if there wasn’t.

Embracing his role as coach, Volpenhein is focusing on his athletes and what he wants them to take from their experience at Worlds.

“I want them to get medals. But, I also want them to learn about themselves and push themselves to places they haven’t been before. They should come away from the racing with a better sense of what they need to improve to make the podium in London. That is the real goal.”

Guest Blogger: Justin Stangel with the latest from New Zealand

2010-10-28T14:03:00.003-05:00

Well it doesn't feel like it but looking at my watch we have been here five days now. After taking off from LAX just before midnight on the 21st we arrived in Auckland on the morning of the 23rd. From there we took a bus to our hotel in Hamilton which is about 90 minutes south. The town is nice and is know as a urban farmland area because of all the farms and herds that surround the city. We haven't had time to fully explore the city but from what we have seen it have a nice down town area and the hotel that we are in is very good and has been catering to our needs and providing plenty of tasty food.

The rowing has been going well for all crews as well. The course is a 45 minute bus ride each way which makes it a little draining sometimes, but also allows plenty of time to read books and relax the mind and body. Lake Karapiro is located in the rolling hills of the Waikato region and has given us some gorgeous scenery that I can only describe as what it would be like entering in to Jurassic Park (You would think more Lord of the Rings, but that is more the South Island). While the course has been a bit bumpy with all the crews rowing around we have been able to get some good work done and keep up with our preparations for the competition starting next week. At the course most of the teams have finally shown up from camps around New Zealand and it is interesting hearing all the languages at the athlete restaurant where everyone eats lunch. Also the final construction has been going on with the massive grandstands looking to be almost complete and the surrounding tents starting to fill up.

There has been a good camaraderie within Team USA with lively conversations at meals and lots of cards and movies with fellow teammates. As we all strive to win a gold medal here next week we all realize that it is good to take time out to relax and enjoy each others company.

Thank you everyone back home for all your support, and there will be more to come in the next couple days.

Justin

OKC Athletes Victorious in Champ Four at Head of the Charles

2010-10-27T15:04:00.002-05:00

5 crews comprised of Oklahoma City athletes competed in the 46th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA October 23-24.

Evan Cassidy, Henry Cole, Andrew Melander, Stuart Sloan and coxswain, Michael Lehmann came out on top in the Men's Champshipship Four Event. The crew lead the field the entire race down the Charles river, finishing in 15:49.58. Cal-Berkeley placed second in a time of 15:55.51.

Ryan Shelton and Aaron Marcovy finished fourth place in the Men's Championship Double in a time of 18:02.22, ahead of teammates Martin Etem and Pat Close who placed 7th in a time of 18:12.39.

Meg George competed in the Championship Women's Single placing 11th (22:30.17).

The Men's 8+ of Marcus McElhenney, Grant James, Brandon Shald, Scott Morgan, Max Goff, Blaise Didier, Ross James, Martin Reshke and Christopher Defelice finished fourth in 14:05.27.

A Rising Star: Peszek Finds Success Through OKC Training Center

2010-10-27T09:53:00.003-05:00

A year ago, he was erging on his own. Today, he’s sitting stroke in the men’s eight, set to represent the USA at the World Rowing Championships next week in New Zealand. Looking back, Tom Peszek says he thinks he could have set the bar higher when he started training at the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center (OKCNHPC) at the beginning of the year.

“When I started training in OKC my personal goals were initially to just break six minutes on the erg and get decent at rowing a single. I’ve accomplished both of those, and I’m thinking that I should have set my goals much higher,” he said.

Going to the Next Level
A member of the Under 23 national team in 2007, Peszek saw a posting on Row2k and applied for residency in Oklahoma City as a way to get back into the national team system.

“I raced in the eight at the U23 World Championships back in 2007. But the senior level of competition is a different animal altogether,” said Peszek. “All of the crews at this level are too experienced and too good to ever give up and just let you beat them – you have to earn every single inch against every single crew.”

Peszek had his first taste of senior level rowing this summer when he and his Oklahoma City teammates Justin Stangel, Ross James, and Grant James traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland, to row the men’s four at the World Cup III.

“To me, things first started to click when Justin Stangel and I had several rows together in the pair, with OKCNHPC Director and Head Coach John Parker working with us. John kept challenging us and making us prove that we were good enough to compete at the first USRowing National Selection Regatta, and Justin and I started to realize that we really could be competitive at the level.”

New Zealand Bound
Although the selection process occurred gradually enough that being named to the men’s eight was not immediately surprising, Peszek says he’d never have believed he would be in this position months ago.

“If you had told me back in February or March that this is where I would be, I would never have believed it. I am beyond excited to have the chance to row with seven of the very best rowers in the country sitting right behind me.

To be part of Team USA is an incredible honor and unlike anything I’ve experienced as an athlete. Not only that, but we’ve been preparing for competition with the best coaching possible, and training side-by-side with the best rowers in the country has been exciting each and every day. It’s an incredible experience.”

OKC Athletes Bound for Rowing World Championships

2010-10-20T17:21:00.001-05:00

After less than a year as a training center, the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center is sending 11 athletes as part of Team USA to the Rowing World Championships, Oct. 30 –Nov. 7 in New Zealand. Here’s the outlook for our crews:

Competing in the men’s eight will be coxswain Ned DelGuercio, OKC resident athlete Tom Peszek, Jason Read, Charlie Cole, Jake Cornelius, Brett Newlin, Dan Walsh, Mark Murphy and David Banks. Read won gold in the eight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, while Walsh won bronze in the eight at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Five members of last year’s world championships squad return to the eight lineup including DelGuercio, Cole, Cornelius, Newlin and Banks. Germany won gold at the Munich and Lucerne world cup stops, while Great Britain won gold in Bled and finished top three in the others. The Beijing gold-medalist Canadian men’s eight, coming off a fourth-place finish in Lucerne, also will be among the top competition.

The lightweight men’s eight, coming off a silver-medal finish at the 2009 World Rowing Championships, has coxswain Stephen Young, Jimmy Sopko, Matt Kochem, and Skip Dise along with OKC resident athletes Kenny McMahon, Matt Muffelman, Michael Kerrigan, Julian Bowling and Bob Duff competing. Five members of last year’s crew return to the lineup including Sopko, Kochem, McMahon, Dise and Muffelman. Young, a first-time national team member, will also cox the men’s pair with coxswain boat that includes Nareg Guregian and OKC resident Justin Stangel. Guregian won silver in the four at the 2009 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. The U.S. is the defending world champion in the event.

The men’s pair event features OKC resident athletes Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern, who earned their berth to the team with a win at the 2010 World Championships Trials. Monaghan is a first-time national team member, while McEachern finished ninth in the quadruple sculls at the 2007 World Rowing Championships. The duo will take on a tough field including defending world champion New Zealand, Greece, Serbia and Great Britain.

Rowing in the lightweight men’s pair is the OKC resident athlete duo of Michael Nucci Evan Tsourtsoulas. Nucci was a member of the 2009 Under 23 World Championships squad, finishing ninth in the lightweight quad. Kastoria, Greece-native Tsourtsoulas is a seven-time Greek national team member and is competing for the United States for the first time.

Tom Peszek and the USA Men's 8+

2010-10-19T14:36:00.004-05:00

OKC resident - Tom Peszek, stroke of the Men's 8+, prepares for the 2010 World Rowing Championships during an afternoon practice at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. The team is just days away from departing for Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

World Rowing Website Covers Oklahoma Regatta Festival

2010-10-15T23:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.worldrowing.com/display/modules/news/dspNews.php?newid=324955

Check the USA Today article "More Californians Reverse Course and Head to Oklahoma"

2010-10-12T17:32:00.003-05:00

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-10-12-oklahoma12_CV_N.htm

Final Spots on the 2010 National Team Decided

2010-10-03T14:35:00.002-05:00

It took two tough races to sort things out but the final spots on the team that will represent the United States at the World Rowing Championships were decided yesterday morning on the last day of the 2010 World Championships Trials at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

USRowing Training Center-Oklahoma City's Steve Young, Nareg Guregian and Justin Stangel forced a third final in the men's pair with coxswain by rowing through the team of Marcus McElhenney, Steve Kasprzyk and Troy Kepper in the final meters of the second final on Friday.

The trio of McElhenney, Kasprrzk, and Kepper wanted nothing to do with a repeat of that result and built a healthy, early open-water lead. But the team of Young, Guregian and Stangel refused to give in and closed a stroke at a time until they gained bow on stern going into the final 500 and then sprinted to the win by 0.18 seconds with a time of 7:02.936 to 7:03.132.

"We knew from the race before that we had the sprint if we needed it," Young said. "We started out a little farther down today than we had hoped, but I told them with 500 meters to go, I said 'you've got 500 meters to go and a length to go. If you want it, it's yours.' They definitely wanted it. It was a great finish."

8 More OKC Athlete's Named to 2010 US National Team

2010-10-01T11:30:00.003-05:00

With wind and rain threatening to stop racing, nine crews earned the right to represent the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championships at the World Championship Trials this morning on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

Oklahoma City residents, Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern closed the door on teammates Grant and Ross James from the start to win the second final and earn the right to row at worlds in the men's pair with a winning time of 6:35.630.

Mike Nucci and OKC's Evan Tsourtsoulas won the second final of the lightweight men's pair by just about five seconds over Riverside Boat Club's Andrew Diebold and Greg McKallagat with a time of 6:49.025.

In addition to second finals in today's events, Friday's racing included the uncontested final in the lightweight men's eight.

The lightweight men's eight included coxswain Stephen Young, Jim Sopko, John 'Skip' Dise, Matt Kochem, with Oklahoma City's, Kenny McMahon, Michael Kerrigan, Julian Bowling, Robert Duff,and Matthew Muffelman.

In the men's pair with coxswain, USRowing Training Center - Oklahoma City's Steve Young, Nareg Guregian and Justin Stangel forced a third final by rowing through the team of Marcus McElhenney, Steve Kasprzyk and Troy Kepper in the final meters to win by a hair with a time of 7:08.481 over the New York Athletic Club/Penn AC boat's 7:08.747.

The two will face off for the final time in the best-of-three format tomorrow morning.

One Down One (Final) to go for Monaghan and McEachern

2010-09-30T11:41:00.004-05:00

Nine boats are now one victory away from representing the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championships after winning their first finals on Thursday at the 2010 World Championships Trials at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

Oklahoma City residents, Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern pulled away from teammates Grant and Ross James over the final 500 meters to win the first final of the men's pair. Monaghan and McEachern trailed the James brothers by just under two seconds at the midway point of the race before sprinting home in a 6:51.306 to win by more than eight seconds. The two crews will face off in tomorrow's second final. Regardless of the outcome, the United States will be represented by two Oklahoma City athletes in the men's pair at this years World Championships.

In the men's single sculls, Ken Jurkowski, a 2008 Olympian in the event, took control of the race in the first 1,000 meters and crossed the finish line in a 7:18.987. Craftsbury Sculling Center's Thomas Graves moved from fourth place to second over the final 1,000 meters. Graves held off Oklahoma City's Martin Etem by 0.19 seconds to earn the other spot in the second final. This result concluded an impressive run for Etem at this year's trials, proving he has an incredibly bright future in elite level sculling.

In the men's pair with coxswain, the crew of coxswain Marcus McElhenney, Steve Kasprzyk and Troy Kepper, won by a boat length, crossing the line in a 7:36.16. OKC's Steve Young, Nareg Guregian and Justin Stangel finished second, 2.6 second behind. Guregian, Stangel, and Young will have one more shot at earning a national term berth when they race in final two Friday.

Mike Nucci and Oklahoma City resident Evan Tsourtsoulas won the first final of the lightweight men's pair by just over two seconds. Nucci and Tsourtsoulas finished with a time of 7:20.461. Riverside Boat Club's Andrew Diebold and Greg McKallagat finished second and will race in the second final.

In the lightweight women's quad event, Michelle Sechser of OKC finished third in a time of 7:15.6.

The 2010 World Championships Trials are being contested in a best two-out-of-three format with second finals taking place Friday morning. Third finals will be held Saturday morning, if necessary. The winning crews will represent the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championships, October 31-November 7, in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

The lightweight men's eight comprised of Oklahoma City's Kenny McMahon, Matt Muffleman, Michael Kerrigan, Julian Bowling and Robert Duff along with Matt Kochem, Jimmy Sopko, Skip Dise and Stephen Young will race uncontested in the event final tomorrow at 9:20 AM.

Etem, Stangel Cruise into A Finals

2010-09-29T10:54:00.002-05:00

In cool weather and perfect conditions, the finals for the men's single sculls and men's pair with coxswain events were set this morning at the 2010 World Rowing Championship Trials.

In the men's single sculls, Oklahoma City's Martin Etem rowed a strong race to advance to the A final, finishing second in a time of 7:02.4. Ken Jurkowski, a 2008 Olympian in the event, clocked the fastest time of the semifinals. Jurkowski crossed the finish line in a 6:58.03.

Jurkowski and Etem will be joined in the final by Craftsbury Sculling Center's Tom Graves and GMS's Michael Sivigny.

In the men's pair with coxswain, OKC's Nareg Guregian, Justin Stangel and coxswain Steve Young won in a time of 7:09.988 followed by Alex Osborne, Matthew Wheeler and coxswain Rob O'Leary from the Princeton Training Center. Oklahoma City's Brandon Shald, Aaron Marcovy and Max Blumenthal finished third in 7:14.8. The top two finishers advanced to the A Final.

Etem Advances to Semi Final

2010-09-28T23:05:00.003-05:00

Oklahoma City Resident Martin Etem advanced to the Semi Final of the Men's Single Event at the Senior World Rowing Championship Trials in West Windsor, New Jersey. Etem finished in first place of Repechage #4 in a time of 7:21.7 ahead of teammate Pat Close (7:28.6).

OKC's Ryan Shelton placed second in Repechage #1 behind Potomac Boat Club's William Cowles. The first place finisher from each repechage advanced to the Wednesday morning semi final.

OKC Athletes Move onto Repechage

2010-09-28T10:48:00.002-05:00

Day one of racing for the 2010 Senior World Championship Trials is underway in West Windsor, New Jersey.

In the Men's Single, OKC's Pat Close placed third in heat one in a time of 7:51.9 while Martin Etem placed fourth in heat 2 (8:17.5) and Ryan Shelton finished third in heat four (8:03.3). Close, Etem, and Shelton will move onto the repechage this evening for a second opportunity to advance to the semi final.

In the closest race of the morning, Nareg Guregian and Justin Stangle finished second place in heat one of the Men's Coxed Pair in a time of 7:40.3, just two tenths of a second behind first place Penn AC (7:40.1). USRowing Training Center - Princeton finish third in a time of 7:40.5. In heat two, Brandon Shald, Aaron Marcovy and Max Blumenthal placed second in a time of 7:40.0. Both OKC crews will move onto the repechage scheduled for Wednesday morning at 9:00 AM.

OKC Residents Compete for US National Berth at 2010 World Championship Trials

2010-09-24T16:08:00.005-05:00

Fourteen Oklahoma City National High Performance Center athletes will compete at the 2010 World Championship Trials, September 27 to October 2, in West Windsor, New Jersey. Winners of each trial event will earn the right to represent the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championships, October 31-November 7, in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

OKC residents Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern have entered the Men's pair event, competing against teammates Grant and Ross James.

Ryan Shelton, Martin Etem, and Pat Close will represent Oklahoma City in the men's single among a very deep field which includes 2008 Bejiing Olympic Men's Single, Ken Jurkowski.

Brandon Shald and Aaron Marcovy will race for a berth in the Men's Coxed Pair with 17 year old Chesapeake Junior Crew coxswain Max Blumenthal. OKC's Justin Stangel will compete in the same event with Nareg Guregian.

Michelle Sechser will be racing in the Lightweight Women's Quad with Hannah Godfrey, Jenne Daley and Jill Austin.

OKC's Kenny McMahon, Matt Muffleman and Bob Duff will compete in the Lightweight Men's Eight event.

Oklahoma City Residents Peszek and Fox Named to 2010 US National Team

2010-09-23T21:15:00.002-05:00

The six camp-selected boats that will represent the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championships October 31-November 7 in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand, have been named, USRowing announced on Tuesday. It was an incredible day for the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center as two of it's resident athletes were selected for Olympic class events. Tom Peszek will be the stroke of the men's eight, while Ryan Fox will be competing in the lightweight men's four.

Joining Peszek in the men’s eight will be coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Mark Murphy (Madison, Wis.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.). Read won gold in the eight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, while Walsh won bronze in the eight at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. DelGuercio, Cole, Cornelius, Newlin and Banks return from last year’s world championship squad.

Fox, along with Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.) will compete in the lightweight men’s four. Daly, a 2008 Olympian, and LaCava return to the boat from last year’s world championships’ squad, while Fox and Fahden won silver in the 2009 lightweight eight.

Rowing Science Seminar Update

2010-09-22T15:13:00.002-05:00

The Oklahoma City National High Performance Center and the Kossev Consortium will present a one-day Rowing Science seminar in conjunction with the OCU Head of the Oklahoma regatta. The seminar will be held Friday, October 8, 8a to 4p. Complete presentation descriptions are now available:

Dr. Valery Kleshnev: Introduction and basic principles of Rowing Biomechanics
Dr. Kleshnev will do an in-depth scientific presentation about the definition and components of rowing efficiency including propulsive forces, blade forces, and boat velocity. He will further discuss the factors limiting and affecting efficiency and the ways technique, body type, and rigging interact to impact speed and effectiveness.

Dr. Valery Kleshnev: Practical Applications of Rowing BiomechanicsIn this session Dr. Kleshnev will look carefully at each micro-phase of the rowing stroke, examining with participants the ways in which different types of technique affect boat speed. This includes a careful look at feedback from Dr. Kleshnev’s telemetry system and a discussion of effective drills to improve technique.

Andrew Carter: Enhancing Performance Through Accessible Technology
Rowing is a technology-rich sport. From boats to cox boxes to heart rate monitors, basic tools of the trade are designed to optimize performance. But most of these products give us performance feedback that we either do not know how to use or do not have the time to access. Mr. Carter is going to talk about some the performance technology equipment that we come into contact every day as coaches and athletes and discuss how to optimize our use of them to improve training, efficiency, and ultimately performance.

Sam Blades: Advanced Applications in Performance Technology
Using case studies from the Canadian national team coaches with whom he works, Mr. Blades will describe how he supports coaches to find and utilize technological solutions to coaching dilemmas and performance goals.

Keith Jefferson: The Science of Level 5 Leadership in Sport
Rowing programs, like all organizations, are heavy with the requirement of leadership, both within the team and from the coaching staff. The often qualitative aspects of organizational research however can be daunting to the layman in search of answers to the question: how am I to lead my team. Based on the sport application of groundbreaking organizational research by best-selling author Jim Collins (Good to Great), Coach Jefferson discusses two of these fundamental aspects from his own research.

Dr. Kate Ackerman: Nutrition and Optimal Performance
Navigating the limitless possibilities of diets, supplements, and performance products can be daunting. Should I try the Paleo diet? What about gels? Should I take iron supplements? Dr. Ackerman uses her own research, as well as the most current information about nutrition and performance, to debunk myths and clarify the needs of athletes during the different stages of training and competition.

Dr. Kate Ackerman: Addressing the health concerns/needs of female athletes
With rowing’s rapid expansion amongst junior and collegiate women, the health issues of girls and women have become an important topic in the sport. Dr. Ackerman is one of the country’s leading clinician/researchers in young female athletes and their bodies’ particular needs as they mature and as they seek to improve performance. She will discuss her research and provide practical information for those who work closely with these athletes about how to support their training and development.

Dr. Peter Davis: Taking your program to the next level: Performance Planning, services integration, and gap analysisEvery rowing program – club, junior, college, and elite – strives to take its overall performance to the next level. Bringing his 28 years of experience working with sports teams and national sports organizations from the US to Jordan, Dr. Davis will help participants understand how to identify performance gaps, set achievement benchmarks, and collect necessary objective data to create a strategic performance plan. He will also discuss how to integrate resources and services to achieve the goals of that plan.

Rowing Science Seminar in OKC

2010-09-13T14:18:00.003-05:00

The Oklahoma City National High Performance Center and the Kossev Consortium will present a one-day Rowing Science Seminar in conjunction with the OCU Head of the Oklahoma Regatta. The seminar will be held Friday, October 8, 8 AM to 4 PM, with an optional early morning on-the-water session.

During the seminar, national and international sport science experts will discuss their research and the practical applications of science and technology to the art of rowing. The speakers will share best practices and explore how the sport of rowing can be enhanced through available performance technology. Topics appropriate for coaches at all levels as well as masters and elite athletes, will include:

the physics of the stroke cycle
rowing biomechanics
nutrition and optimal performance
how to maximize use of readily accessible performance technology
additional topics tailored for junior and collegiate coaches

Speakers currently slated include sports medicine specialist Katherine Ackerman, MD/MPH, world renowned biomechnical expert Valery Kleshnev, PhD; and University of Miami Head coach Andrew Carter, a collegiate rowing coach with international experience in applied sports science.

Registration for the seminar is $75; the optional on-the-water session is $25.

Please register here:

https://tms.ezfacility.com/OnlineRegistrations/Register.aspx?CompanyID=860&GroupID=44593

For more information, email Julie McCleery at juliemccleery@yahoo.com

Three-time Olympian Bryan Volpenhein named Assistant Coach for Oklahoma City National High Performance Center

2010-09-10T13:23:00.002-05:00

One of Team USA’s most decorated rowers will help develop the country’s next Olympic rowers in Oklahoma City. Bryan Volpenhein, a three-time Olympian who stroked the men’s eight to a gold medal in Athens and a bronze in Beijing, has been named assistant coach for the OKC National High Performance Center.

Volpenhein began his rowing career at Ohio State in 1994 at the age of 18 and brings twelve years of international rowing experience to Oklahoma City. He made his first national team in 1998 where he won his first gold medal at the World Championships in Cologne, Germany. He is a 10-time national team member, winning four gold, a silver, and a bronze medal at the World Championships.

Volpenhein began his coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of Washington in 2004-2005 before going to culinary school at the Art Institute of Seattle. He has spent the last two years coaching at the Pocock Rowing Center in Seattle, Wa, where he coached the team to solid performances at all National Selection Regattas and put five athletes on the National Team. He helped coach the men’s lightweight 8+, women’s lightweight 4x, who won a silver and bronze at the 2009 World Championships in Poznan, Poland. 2010. He also coached the men’s lightweight four and women’s lightweight double.
In addition to his role as assistant coach at the OKCNHPC, Volpenhein will also be a lightweight men’s coach for USRowing.

In addition to coaching, he will work as a chef for the restaurants of A Good Egg Dining Group in Oklahoma City.

2010-09-07T20:32:00.000-05:00

Head of the Oklahoma in 4 weeks!

2010-09-06T09:58:00.004-05:00

The Oklahoma City University, Head of the Oklahoma will be held in its original location, Regatta Park, with two days of racing October 9-10, 2010.

The weekend of racing will again feature all the attractions you've come to expect from this annual event - including the 500m OG&E Night Sprints - against the backdrop of improvements to the Oklahoma River racing venue: the new $10 million Devon Boathouse, home of OCU rowing, and the Chesapeake Finish Line Tower, a four level tower meeting both FISA and ICF standards.

Devon Boathouse and Chesapeake Finish Line Tower Take Shape in OKC!

2010-08-31T09:23:00.004-05:00

Crews Prepare for World Championship Trials in Princeton

2010-08-30T12:49:00.002-05:00

Members of the USRowing National Team Lightweight Camp held in Oklahoma City are currently training at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, NJ. Members of the camp will be selected to race in the World Championship Trials beginning September 27 2010 in the Lightweight Women's Quad and Lightweight Men's Eight events. Trial winners will earn a National Team berth to represent the United States at the 2010 World Rowing Championship in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

8 Oklahoma City Athletes Earn Selection Camp Invites!

2010-08-24T15:17:00.003-05:00

Eight Oklahoma City residents earned invitations to the U.S. National Team Selection Camps based results from National Selection Regatta III. The athletes have an opportunity to be selected to compete at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

Invited to the Men's Eight and Four Camp:

Tom Peszek
Justin Stangel
Ryan Monaghan
Deaglan McEachern
Ross James
Grant James

Invited to the Lightweight Men's Four Camp:

Kenny McMahon
Ryan Fox

Impressive Showing for OKC at NSR III

2010-08-24T14:39:00.003-05:00

Racing at the 2010 National Selection Regatta #3 was completed Saturday morning with the top finishing crews in all events earning invitations to the U.S. National Team Selection Camps.

The athletes in the winning crews have an opportunity to be selected to row in the "big boats" (men's eight, women's eight, women's quadruple sculls, men's quadruple sculls, men's four and lightweight men's four) at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

USRowing Training Center - Princeton crews took the top two spots in the men's pair with the crew of Brett Newlin, and Jake Cornelius crossing first in 6:36.627, followed in second with a time of 6:39.244 by Silas Stafford and Sam Stitt. To cap off an extremely impressive showing at this event, Oklahoma City crews placed third and fifth. With a time of 6:39.244 was the crew of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel followed in fourth by Dan Walsh and Charlie Cole in 6:42.434. OKC's Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern placed 5th in a time of 6:42.806.

In the lightweight men's pair, the team of Nick LaCava and Anthony Fahden took first in 6:45.300, followed by Oklahoma City residents, Kenny McMahon and Ryan Fox in 6:47.279. In third was Will Daly and Jimmy Sopko in 6:49.059.

In the B final, Oklahoma City's Martin Etem and Pat Close won the men's double sculls in 6:39.605.

Peszek and Stangel, Monaghan and McEachern Qualify for A Final

2010-08-24T14:20:00.003-05:00

In Friday morning racing, six boats advanced to the final out of two semifinals in the men's double sculls and six from the men's pair advanced, with the remaining boats moving to the B final.

Advancing in first place to the final from of the second semifinal was USRowing Training Center's crew of Will Miller and Scott Gault that finished in 6:24.927. Craftsbury Sculling Center's Tom Graves and Peter Graves finished second in 6:25.339, and advancing third in 6:26.945 was GMS Rowing Center's Brian de Regt and Jonathan Winter. Oklahoma City residents, Martin Etem and Pat Close, placed fifth in 6:33.551 moving them directly to the B Final.

In the first semifinal of the men's pair, USRowing Training Center teammates Brett Newlin, and Jake Cornelius finished first in 6:34.980, with Silas Stafford and Sam Stitt behind them in 6:37.995. Finishing third was the USRowing Training Center - Oklahoma City crew of Ryan Monaghan, and Deaglan McEachern who crossed in 6:39.631 earning them a spot in the A Final.

Advancing out of the second semifinal was the USRowing Training Center team of Dan Walsh ('08 Olympic Bronze medalist) and Charlie Cole, who clocked a 6:32.500, followed by Oklahoma City's duo of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel in 6:33.798. OKC residents Ross and Grant James finished in fifth position in 6:41.347 sending them to the B Final.

In the C Final of the Men's pair, Oklahoma City's Max Goff and Aaron Marcovy placed third in a time of 6:41.656.

Heats Complete at National Selection Regatta #3

2010-08-21T20:08:00.002-05:00

Athletes from the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center completed the first day of racing at the National Selection Regatta #3 with Thursday morning time trials and evening heats.

The 1900 meter time trial was run to determine the seeding and lane assignments for heats in the Men's 2-/2x and lane assignments for the Lightweight Men's 2- Final.

In the Men's 2- Time Trial, the OKC HPC crew of Tom Peszek and Justin Stangel finished in 3rd place in a time of 6:25.300 out of 16 crews.. They were followed closely by teammates Ryan Monaghan and Deaglan McEachern in 6:25.369. Aaron Marcovy and Max Goff finished in 9th place while Ross James and Grant James finished in 15th place.

In the Men's 2x Time Trial, Martin Etem and Pat Close finished in 7th place in a time of 6:23.633 among 15 crews.

In the Lightweight Men's 2- Time Trial, OKC HPC crews Kenny McMahon and Ryan Fox, Julian Bowling and Dorian Weber, Matt Muffleman and Evan Tsourtsoulas, finished in 3rd, 4th and 6th respectively out of 6 crews.

The Men's 2x semi started the evening racing with the top four crews advancing to the semi finals. Etem and Close made an impressive showing with a second place finish in a time of 6:28.4 behind the 2008 Olympic 2x of Elliot Hovey and Wes Piermarini (6:24.3).

In what seemed to be a statistically impossible seeding, all four OKC HPC Men's Pairs wound in the same heat, with only 4 boats advancing to the A/B Semi final. After 2 KM of tight racing, the margin between the top three finishers was too close to be decided by the human eye. James and James finished in first place in 6:30.2, followed by Monaghan and McEachern in 6:30.3, and Peszek and Stangel in 6:30.4, all three crews advancing to the semi final. Goff and Marcovy finished in 5th place in a time of 6:35.4 sending them to Final C.

More from NSR III

2010-08-20T08:50:00.002-05:00

Photos from NSR III

2010-08-20T08:48:00.002-05:00

OKC NHPC athletes race at NSR 3

2010-08-19T11:55:00.002-05:00

A team of residents from the OKC NHPC are in Princeton, New Jersey for USRowing NSR 3. Check out results from today's time trials and heats at powerhousetiming.com.

OKC HPC Athletes Impress at Canadian Henley

2010-08-13T11:41:00.000-05:00

Members of the USRowing Lightweight National Team Camp in OKC represented the USA at the Royal Canadian Henley. The women competed in a Lightweight Women’s Double exhibition race against Olympic Medalists from the Canadian National Team. Canadian Olympian Tracy Cameron and her partner Lindsay Jennerich won the race, with Michelle Sechser and Hannah Godfrey taking second for the USA and Michelle Trannel and Hilary Saegar of the USA came in third.

The top two Canadian lightweight doubles joined forces to row in a lightweight 4x and raced the two USRowing Lightweight National Team Camp boats.

The USA 4x of Katherine Robinson, Jeanette Daily, Michelle Sechser and Jillian Austin came within .85 seconds of the Canadian Olympians.

Additionally, athletes from the OKC Lightweight Camp raced in the Men’s Championship 8+ race. The men came in third, behind two heavy weight eights - the Canadian National Team and the Penn AC crew. The USA Lightweight boat edged out the Canadian Lightweight 8+ by three seconds. Athletes in the USA boat were:

Stephen Young, Cox
Matt Muffleman, 8
Julian Bowling, 7
Robert Duff, 6
Justin Farrington, 5
Dorian Weber, 4
Michael Nucci, 3
Michael Kerrigan, 2
Skip Dise, 1

OKC HPC Pre-Elite Athletes Take Gold at Royal Canadian Henley

2010-08-09T11:39:00.000-05:00

Meg George and Ellen Manovich won Henley Gold in the women’s U23 2- at the Royal Canadian Henley. The women were part of a pre-elite team from OKC’s National High Performance Center that competed in the event. Athletes did well in their inaugural appearance at this event, making finals in four events.

Juniors Row With US National Team Members at OKC HPC Camp

2010-07-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

Local juniors had a lot of fun while expanding their knowledge of the sport of rowing at the OKC National High Performance Junior Camp, July 26-August 1. The athletes were coached by local members of the US National Team and were introduced to technologies like Dartfish Video Analysis and Biorow Visual Immediate Feedback System.

Juniors camps will take place summers and during spring break. Information on upcoming camps will soon be available at USROWINGOKC.ORG

Lightweight Men Make Finals at World U23 Championships, A First for USA

2010-07-26T16:39:00.001-05:00

The lightweight men’s pair that trained in OKC raced in the A Final at the World Rowing U23 Championships this Sunday, July 25 in Brest, Belarus.

The duo faced tough competition and challenging race conditions to pull out a 6th place finish overall out of 19 crews.

Additionally, the USA Lightweight Men’s 4-, which was selected at the Oklahoma City High Performance Center earlier this month, won a bronze medal – the first ever for the USA in this event.

USRowing has been working with John Parker, head coach of the OKC High Performance Center, to develop the talent pool of lightweight rowers in the country to ensure more international success for team USA.

OKC High Performance Rowers Medal at Club Nationals

2010-07-21T14:35:00.004-05:00

OKC National High Performance Center athletes brought home the gold…and silver and bronze…at the USRowing Club National Championships, July 14-18 at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, TN.

Join us in congratulating these athletes and their coaches – Cam Brown, Katie Johnson, Melanie Borger, Jeremy Ivey and Head Coach John Parker – on their performances!

Bronze: Women's Intermediate 1x
Kathryn Schiro (OCU)

Silver: Women's Intermediate 2x
Kathryn Schiro (OCU), Megan George (Texas)

Silver: Women's Intermediate 4x
Kathryn Schiro (OCU), Megan George (Texas), Jessica Lawson (UCO), Ellen Manovich (Ohio State)

Silver: Women's Intermediate 2-
Megan George (Texas), Ellen Manovich (Ohio State)

Bronze: Women's Senior 2x
Hilary Cumbest (Clemson), Hydi Gibson (OCU)

Silver: Women's Open 1x dash
Kathryn Schiro (OCU)

Gold: Men's Senior 4+
Michael Lehman (Notre Dame), Brendan Shald (Cal Berkley), Bronson Shafer (Oregon State), Jack Trimble (Hobart), Stuart Sloan (Colorado)

Silver: Men's Senior 8+
Michael Lehman (Notre Dame), Brendan Shald (Cal Berkley), Bronson Shafer (Oregon State), Jack Trimble (Hobart), Stuart Sloan (Colorado), Matt Zapel (Washington), Greg Flood (Notre Dame), Lucas Goodman (MIT) Ryan Shelton (San Diego)

Bronze: Men's Senior 2x
Lucas Goodman (MIT), Greg Flood (Notre Dame)

World Rowing U23 Championships

2010-07-20T13:52:00.003-05:00

Christian Klein, Michael Kerrigan & coach Jeremy Ivey get used to their surroundings at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Brest, Belarus. Klein and Kerrigan, who have been training at the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center, will race 17 other crews in the Ltwt Men's Pair event. Heats take place Thursday, July 22. Follow their results on www.worldrowing.com. And, check out the News 9 OKBlitz.com article on the duo.

OKC Crew Wins Repechage, Falls Short in Semi’s at Rowing World Cup III

2010-07-11T09:25:00.002-05:00

The OKC 4- won their repechage, coming from behind to advance to the semi-finals. In that race the crew came up just short, advancing to the B Final. There they finished 3rd or 9th overall establishing that they are competitive with some of the fastest fours in the world. See full results.

OKC’s Residents Race at Rowing World Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland

2010-07-08T09:16:00.002-05:00

Row2K shines the spotlight on Tom Peszek, Ross Grant, James Grant and Justin Stangel, four of the rowers in residence at the OKC High Performance Center who are representing the US in the Men’s 4-. The crew did well in their heat, racing against teammates in the USA “1” line-up, pulling even with this crew at the halfway point. Even though the OKC-based crew did not advance, their performance illustrates they are at a level to be competitive on the international stage.

Klein, Kerrigan Earn U23 National Team Berth, Silver at USRowing National Championships

2010-06-30T14:58:00.004-05:00

Christian Klein and Michael Kerrigan represented the USRowing Training Center - OKC at two events this past weekend in West Windsor, NJ.

On Friday, competing in the Lightweight Men's Pair event at the U23 World Championship Trials, Klein and Kerrigan finished first in a time of 6:48.3, ahead of teammates Tyler Nase and Michael Nucci. With the win, Klein and Kerrigan will represent the United States at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Brest, Belarus July 22-25, 2010.

Less than 24 hours later, Klein and Kerrigan raced in the A Final of the Lightweight Men's Pair at the USRowing National Championships. The duo earned a silver medal, finishing 1 second (6:46.8) behind Riverside Boat Club's Matt Muffelman and Greg McKallagat (6:45.4).