High Point Rowing Club swept the women’s events in dominant fashion at the Charlotte Erg Sprints on Saturday with championship victories in the women’s varsity, varsity lightweight and novice indoor rowing events.
Indoor rowing competitions take place on rowing machines, called ergometers, and the Charlotte Erg Sprints, hosted by the Charlotte Youth Rowing program, is now the most popular competition of its kind in North Carolina.
In the Women’s Novice (1st year high school rower) event, High Point’s Aliute Udoka won the championship in a time of 7 minutes 56 seconds.
“Novice rowers are so new to the sport you really never know what to expect,” said head coach Gene Kininmonth. “Aliute’s performance was more on par with a very experienced high school varsity rower and yet she is still a sophomore. There is no question that Aliute has a wonderful career ahead of her in rowing.”
The next win for High Point came in the Women’s Varsity Lightweight event when Kim Pollard led from wire to wire to row to victory in 8 minutes 35 seconds.
“It felt amazing to win!” said an exhausted Pollard after the race. “I felt like all of my winter training had paid off and made a huge difference in my performance on the erg. In addition to the erg, I’ve mainly been doing crossfit workouts to incorporate into functional fitness.”
A junior at Northwest Guilford High School, Pollard says she is now looking forward to the spring boat racing season and winning medals with her High Point crew mates.
In the final event of the day, High Point’s Catherine Thompson put on the most dominating exhibition of rowing seen at the competition when she won the Women’s Varsity Championship in a time of 7 minutes 32 seconds, besting her previous personal best erg time by 11 seconds.
“Catherine Thompson is truly one of the founders of High Point Rowing Club and she will leave a legacy of inspiration with this team when she goes to row for the Wisconsin Badgers in the Fall.” says head coach Gene Kininmonth. “Catherine was a member of our very first crew. Her first stroke propelled our team into existence and her first boat race victory was this team’s historic first victory. Now, here she is today, continuing to be such a positive force for her team and performing at a level she can be so proud of.”
A senior at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, Thompson represented her high school in volleyball and Track & Field before making the switch to rowing. On Saturday in Charlotte she led the field right from the outset, setting a blistering pace that none of her competitors could follow.
In the men’s competition in Charlotte, High Point Rowing Club was represented in the Men’s Novice event by Josh Dasnoit and Adam Alt, with Alt finishing in third place with a personal best time of 7 minutes 29 seconds.
