OklaVision Interviews OKC's Olympians

Check out the link below for a great interview from OklaVision with the Olympic Lightweight Men's Four - Robin Prendes, Nick LaCava, Will Newell, and Anthony Fahden.

Rowers - Olympic Lightweight Men's Four

London is on the Line for OKC Rowers

Tom Peszek

The final Olympic Trials for rowing will begin tomorrow morning on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. The event will select the men’s single sculls, men’s pair and women’s pair crews that will represent the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Four scullers are entered in the men’s single including Beijing Olympian Ken Jurkowski, California Rowing Club’s Mike Sivigny, All-American Rowing Camp’s Jim Dietz, II and Seattle Rowing Center’s Jon Greer. Jurkowski, who qualified the boat at the 2011 World Rowing Championships last fall, proved himself as the fastest single sculler in the country at National Selection Regatta #1 in March, but then missed out on a top-four finish at either of the first two 2012 World Rowing Cup stops – placement that would have qualified him for London.

Jurkowski, Sivigny, Dietz and Greer will compete in a race for lanes on Tuesday, with the final scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The winner will earn automatic qualification to the 2012 Olympic Rowing Team, pending final United States Olympic Committee approval.

Fourteen crews are set to compete in the men’s pair, including four USRowing Training Center boats. Oklahoma City’s Silas Stafford and Tom Peszek are set to race, as are OKC’s Justin Stangel and Andrew Gallagher. Peszek and Stangel finished ninth in the event at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. Michael Gennaro and Ty Otto are coming off of a win in the pair and the eight at the 2011 Pan American Games, while 2004 Olympic gold medalist Jason Read has teamed up with Nareg Guregian, a four-time national team member.
In addition, nine-time U.S. national team member and two-time Olympian Jamie Koven of New York Athletic Club has paired up with Mike Blomquist, a five-time national team member.

Four heats of the men’s pair are scheduled for Tuesday, beginning at 7:30 a.m., with the winner advancing directly to Wednesday’s semifinals. The final for the men’s pair is set for 7:45 a.m. Thursday. The winner will earn automatic qualification to the 2012 Olympic Rowing Team, pending final United States Olympic Committee approval.

Two USRowing Training Center crews will face off in the women’s pair event with Jamie Redman and Amanda Polk taking on Sara Hendershot and Sarah Zelenka. Redman and Polk, both five-time U.S. national team members, won gold and set a world best time in the heat of the women’s eight at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne last month. Hendershot and Zelenka were members of the four that won gold at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. A race for lanes is scheduled for 8:10 a.m. Tuesday, with the final set for 8:00 a.m. Thursday. The winner will earn automatic qualification to the 2012 Olympic Rowing Team, pending final United States Olympic Committee approval.

Call this Oklahoma City rower “The Candyman”

NewsOK recently published an article featuring OKC athlete and 2012 Olympian, Nick LaCava, and his online chocolate company called Chocomize. The story can be seen here:

LaCava supplements his rowing with chocolate

Preparing for the Olympic Games in OKC

Check out News 9's coverage of the Olympic Games preparation for OKC athletes, Robin Prendes, Nick LaCava, Will Newell, and Robin Prendes:

Preparing for the Olympic Games in OKC

Johnson and Preuschl Named to 2012 Paralympic Games Team

Johnson and Preuschl

USRowing has announced the legs, trunk and arms four with coxswain crew that will represent the United States at the 2012 Paralympic Games in Eton Dorney, Great Britain, pending final approval from the United States Olympic Committee. Oklahoma City High Performance Center athletes Andrew Johnson and Emma Preuschl have both been named to the crew.

The lineup includes coxswain Alexandra Stein, Dorian Weber, Johnson, Eleni Englert and Preuschl.

Preuschl won a silver medal in the legs, trunk and arms four with coxswain at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. Stein, Johnson, Englert and Preuschl return from the crew that finished sixth in the event at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Selection for the crew was determined based on lineup evaluations and training camp performance under U.S. adaptive rowing coach Karen Lewis.

Charles Barkley Visits the Devon Boathouse

Check out the link below for the video of Charles Barkely's visit to the Devon Boathouse:
(Skip ahead to 3:45 in)

Chuck's tour continued...