Rowers in search of recognition

Web posted March 22, 1998

 Weather was factor at regatta

By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer

Even when she's rowing with a crew of eight, the most important number for Sarah Seigler may be nine.

Her face reddened by sharp, cold wind that blew through the Augusta Spring Regatta on Saturday, the junior at Evans High School is looking past the rows of long, thin boats and seeing a day soon when her sport will be treated the same as college football or basketball, its athletes rewarded with scholarships.

``Georgia Tech is going varsity in a year, and that's where I hope to go,'' said Sarah, 17. Going varsity means the athletes can get scholarships and not have to worry about part-time jobs.

``That's the only way I get out of Georgia my freshman year,'' joked her teammate Ginger Hamrick, 15, as she chewed beads off her candy necklace.

A federal law called Title IX is requiring universities to even up the spending between men's and women's athletics, and women's rowing crews like the ones that competed Saturday are becoming the beneficiaries.

Munching on a bagel while awaiting her trial, University of New Hampshire sophomore Jenn Richardson, 20, is resting on the first year of her rowing scholarship.

``It's almost like a job,'' she said. ``If I were a high school rower, I think it would be a factor.'' Title IX also means more money for equipment.

Although Ms. Richardson was nonchalant about Title IX, the College of Charleston team huddling around a tent nearby would love to be in her position.

The team, which is organized as a club sport, has to foot the $5,000 it costs to compete at regattas and meets around the area, said freshman Jennifer Moeggenberg, 19. It means not getting the $22,000 new boat and duct-taping the old one, she said. It means not having a speaker system to carry the coxswain's call across the boat, said Linda ``Chach'' Mielcarek, 21.

``I have to scream,'' she said, though being from Philadelphia apparently helps.

Even mighty Ivy League rowing schools like Cornell University are starting to notice the impact, said Cornell junior Kimberly Shuman, 21.

``I think competition is definitely going to be coming from state schools that can give scholarships,'' Ms. Shuman said. And from the South, Ms. Mielcarek said.

``The South is definitely picking up on it,'' she said.

Even if the people around them aren't aware of it. The Augusta Rowing Club, which hosted Saturday's Regatta, has placed rowers on national teams, and its junior club of high school students competes well with others across the country, said club secretary Pete Fletcher.

``We've got a number of students who are competing at prestigious universities,'' Mr. Fletcher said.

``When you say, `Augusta,' they look at you like, `Wow, you must be good,''' Sarah said. ``Not the people in Augusta but the ones outside know exactly what you're talking about.''

In fact, one of the more successful local teams is often overlooked.

``Half the school doesn't even know we have a rowing team,'' said Augusta State University junior Niki Moore, 21.

``(But) last spring season we got 11 medals at 14 races,'' said teammate Shelly Hoy, 20. ``It's not like we're this little school out here to have fun. We're here to compete.''

``We beat every Georgia school we competed against, Georgia Tech, Emory, Duke, Clemson,'' Ms. Moore said.

A loyal alumni of former rowers follows the team and helps support it. But as far as breaking into the regional consciousness, that just hasn't happened, said John Groves, director of student activities at Augusta State and a rowing club supporter.

``Rowing is just not violent enough for the South,'' he joked. It doesn't create attention with fantastic individual statistics or plays, he said.

``This is the only sport that requires everybody to work equally hard to win,'' Ms. Hoy said.

``There's no star player,'' Ms. Moore said.

And no law is going to change that.