DES MOINES, IOWA -- Drake senior rower Chelsea Smith has been chosen to train at USRowing's lightweight Pre-Elite Sculling Camp in Bronx, N.Y. this summer.
“It feels really great to be given this amazing athletic opportunity,” said Smith. “To be able to take my rowing to the next level and compete against such accomplished athletes will be a great experience for me.”
The camp is open to collegiate athletes with elite-level potential who wish to have specific sculling instruction in order to prepare for rowing after college as a lightweight. This highly competitive sculling camp will expose athletes to technical basics, as well as ample summer race experience in sculling while living in New York City.
"This is something Chelsea has wanted to do all year,” said Drake crew head coach Charlie DiSilvestro. "She did extra workouts to lower her ergo meter time, which helped her get the invitation. This is a great opportunity for her to compete on a national level."
Smith, who will train at and compete for the New York Rowing Association, will be coached by nationally renowned and current Fordham University head coach Ted Bonanno.
Smith will compete in the lightweight singles at the Elite Nationals Regatta (USRowing's equivalent of a National Championship), on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. The highly competitive regatta is scheduled for June 26-27.
She will also compete at USRowing's U23 World championship trials, also in West Windsor, July 6-9. The winners advance to the U23 World Championships where they will represent the United States July 23-26 in the Czech Republic.
Smith was the third seat of the Varsity 4 boat that capped the 2009 campaign with a third-place finish by at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, which is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States with more than 100 colleges and universities from across the country competing. Smith and her teammates also won all five races on the season prior to the Dad Vail, defeating the likes of Dayton, Tulsa and Southern Methodist.
“Drake has definitely helped me become more accustomed to sculling, with it being one of the team's focuses in the fall and the race experience,” commented Smith. “Coach DiSilvestro has done a lot to help me train and prepare for this opportunity.”
