Rowers find welcoming waters, homes in area

Nation’s best of the best take up permanent residence at Lake Mercer, Carnegie Lake.

By: Courtney Gross
   At 7 a.m. most days, they can be found navigating the calm waters of Mercer Lake. In unison, stroke by stroke, several boats speed pass buoys, docks and the Finn Caspersen Rowing Center — traveling, at times, up to 25 miles per hour.
   Within Mercer County Park in West Windsor or on Princeton’s Carnegie Lake, a popular pastime is practiced twice daily by the nation’s best of the best. Before the sun has risen and following evening rush hour, the U.S. Rowing Team can be found training for international championships and the Olympic games.
   On Wednesday morning, 18 rowers from across the country, from Oregon to Tampa, climbed into two boats bracing against the icy wind to sharpen their skills — or strokes.
   As men’s head coach Mike Teti followed behind, speeding along with the team in a motorboat, he said the more the team’s rowing looked effortless, the better it was performing.
   The team practiced the typical 2,000-meter rowing course in a venue the men’s head coach described as "perfect."
   Since 1996, the U.S. Men’s Rowing Team has called Princeton home, and their women counterparts followed suit in 2001, Mr. Teti said. In February, the U.S. Rowing Team established its corporate headquarters here, one more segment of a national organization that is making Princeton its permanent address.
   The team trains at either the Caspersen Rowing Center on Mercer Lake in Mercer County Park — named for rowing team benefactor Finn Caspersen, also the former chairman and chief executive officer of Beneficial Corporation — or on Princeton’s Carnegie Lake.
   Having previously been moved from Boston to Philadelphia, among other destinations, Mr. Teti said the team now feels at home here in Princeton.
   "(It’s) the first permanent home we’ve had for the national team," Mr. Teti said.
   Through volunteering and community service, the teams are integrated in the Princeton community, Mr. Teti added, and many work at area businesses, including the Princeton Economics Group.
   But above all, Head Women’s Coach Tom Terhaar said, it is the community’s support that allows the team to stay comfortably in Princeton. Although the team’s positive attitude and hard-working nature bring in medals, it also overflows into the countless doors that are continually opened to house the athletes, Mr. Terhaar said.
   "We’re not just here for the body of water and the boathouses," Mr. Terhaar said. "It’s definitely the community support that keeps us here."
   Many of the athletes also act as role models to high school and college students in the Princeton area by coaching junior leagues, Mr. Terhaar added.
   And at the Princeton-area training centers, both the men’s and women’s team tend to train beside high school rowers and junior crew members, an opportunity many other athletes do not receive, the men’s head coach said.
   "This is the only sport in all of the Olympics (where) you’ll see Olympic rowers alongside high school kids in Mercer County," Mr. Teti said while speeding alongside his team Wednesday morning.
   Continuing to train year-round, the team is focusing now on the world championships in Munich next summer, Mr. Teti said, hoping to hang more gold medals on the center’s walls.
   Currently, Mr. Teti noted, both the men’s and women’s teams hold world records. And, he added, since the men’s gold medal victory at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the women’s silver, both teams are seeking to repeat their accomplishments in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
   When the men’s team won the gold in Athens, it was the first time it had achieved such a victory since 1964, Mr. Teti said.
   Although much of their time is spent on the water, when team members are on land, they can be found catching some caffeine at Small World Coffee or singing karaoke at the Ivy Inn.
   Coxswain Marcus McElhenney, the men’s team on-the-water coach, said most of them live in Princeton Borough — some in Princeton University’s Aquinas Institute, others in apartments on Green Street or Moran Avenue. Others are housed by Princeton residents — those who open their homes to the gold and silver medalists.
   Sheri Dwyer, a Princeton Township resident who housed several rowers this summer for the first time, said the rowing team’s residency in Princeton opens up opportunities for aspiring adolescent rowers and other athletes in the community.
   Although this year was the first time the Dwyers opened up their home to the rowers, they expect to continue the practice.
   Ms. Dwyer said, "They ended up being the most responsible, respectful, polite, helpful people. … They were the best group of athletes I have ever met."
   Although many have Princeton addresses, Mr. McElhenney said, the team members’ rowing schedule, one that often leaves them traveling to races on weekends, restricts the amount of time they spend downtown.
   "Some people say they travel too much and they don’t integrate (in the community)," Mr. McElhenney said. But, he added, "We became quasi-locals."