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PRINCETON: Jorgensen strokes PNRA/Mercer boat to bronze

WW-P North senior aids lightweight eight

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Vicki Jorgensen never expected crew to take her so far so fast when she joined the Princeton National Rowing Association’s Mercer Junior Rowing Club three years ago.
   At the time, she was just looking for an athletic outlet.
   ”I had actually never done any other sport before crew,” said Jorgensen, a senior now at West Windsor-Plainsboro High North. “I’d always been an athletic kid. I was trying to see where I fit in. I tried out for basketball my eighth grade year and broke my arm, so that was out. I was not a strong swimmer. I tried running, but never could get into it. The summer before my sophomore year, my dad saw an ad for rowing camp and asked if I wanted to try it. I dragged my brother along to one of the novice camps and we loved it.”
   Fast forward three years and Jorgensen is University of California-Berkeley bound, and the only senior in the PNRA/Mercer’s lightweight eight women’s boat that placed third at the USRowing Youth National Championships on Saturday in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
   ”With the national championship, you can’t be upset about a medal,” Jorgensen said. “It definitely would have been nice to get second or first, but we’re definitely happy with the medal.
   ”If you told us at the beginning of the season, we’d have a medal at nationals, we would have been happy. We’re ecstatic.”
   The PNRA/Mercer boat was bested by only two teams in the country, defending national champion Oakland (Calif.) Strokes and Wayland-Weston (Mass.). PNRA/Mercer defeated Oakland by two-tenths of a second in the semifinals.
   ”Our semifinal was the picture perfect race,” Jorgensen said. “It was incredible. Not many people can say they beat the Oakland Strokes.”
   The PNRA/Mercer boat to contend for the title had only been put together three weeks before nationals. PNRA/Mercer had thought about entering an open women’s eight, but with five lightweights in their regular boat, they felt they had the best chance to do well with a lightweight boat.
   ”Our end goal was to make an 8 go as fast as it possibly could,” said first-year PNRA/Mercer women’s coach Ted Sobolewski. “I think we accomplished that. It was a long process.”
   Joining Jorgensen, who sat in the stroke position, were: sophomore Rena White (Princeton), sophomore Rachel Calabro (Robbinsville), junior Katie Sessa (Monroe), junior Beatrice Sclapari (Princeton), junior Christie Samios (Princeton), freshman Kate Hickey (Yardley, Pa.), sophomore Angelica Escuadro (Robbinsville), and junior coxswain Noa Rothstein (Newtown, Pa.).
   ”It’s incredible,” Jorgensen said. “As young as they are, everyone on the boat is so mature. Sometimes I forget I’m the only senior. Especially the juniors, they really stepped it up. A lot of the rowers started rowing when I started rowing.
   ”At the beginning of the season, we had no idea what we could do,” she said. “We had a new coach, a new boat. We had no expectations. The fact that we came out and got third at the national championship is kind of impressive.”
   Jorgensen, White, Calabro and Sclapari competed at nationals last year. They were happy to help bring along their younger teammates for a stellar finish at nationals.
   ”It definitely came together,” Jorgensen said. “All of us were just so excited, it helped. Everyone was excited to be in the boat and be puling for each other. It just naturally all worked out.”
   The rest of the boat except Jorgensen is eligible to return, and PNRA/Mercer is excited about their potential if they continue together.
   ”They learned a lot from being out there,” Sobolewski said. “Hopefully we can go out there next year with a little more experience and kind of knowing what it feels like to sit on the line and race for a national championship.”
   Jorgensen is a far more confident racer in those circumstances after her experiences. She has seen steady progress through her career. She was hooked to the sport quickly, and has grown into a Division I talent.
   ”Novice year, you’re still trying to figure the sport out,” Jorgensen said. “Once you get to the varsity level, you can’t help but notice the work gets tougher and you get stronger. You have to really focus in. You get a better understanding that it is a competition and you’re trying to do your best.
   ”It’s weird to think I only started crew three years ago. It’s such a big part of my life.”
   At Cal, Jorgensen will have a new challenge going forward. They don’t have a lightweight team, so she will be rowing in their open program.
   Said Jorgensen: “One of the biggest things between college rowing and high school rowing is in high school you have the people in it for staying fit and having fun. In college, it’s more serious. I think I’m ready for a bigger commitment. I’ve talked to the coach. He said, it’s a pretty intense program. I’m ready to go all in and get better. I just want to go fast and I think Cal can do that for me.”
   Sobolewski has no doubts that Jorgensen can help their program in the way she helped PNRA/Mercer.
   ”I don’t have any reservations about her going to row with people heavier than her,” said Sobolewski, who joined PNRA/Mercer after coaching at Northeastern University. “She’s strong. She’s our strongest runner. She’s not going to have any problems there, once she gets settled in and gets used to it. I think she’s among the top lightweights in the country at the junior level.”
   He watched how she helped the lightweight crew through his first year, and came away impressed with what she can do.
   ”She’s been absolutely incredible,” Sobolewski said. “She’s kind of driven that whole group. She’s doing extra work before practice. She always has a positive attitude. There are certainly ups and downs in year and a lot goes into the training, and she’s the one that led that group through the training.
   ”In terms of her leadership, she really was a senior and projected that onto the rest of the team whether she knows it or not. She was certainly the leader of that group, the one that everyone looked to. She also stroked the boat. It’s kind of an important position. She was totally ready to accept that challenge. We put it out there that we needed to be a lot faster. She was leading that process. She’s our fastest lightweight on the erg.”
   Jorgensen isn’t quite done with PNRA/Mercer. They will compete in several large regattas over the summer, but then Jorgensen will give way to the rising seniors and a crew that gained invaluable experience at this year’s nationals. They were leading the finals race for the first quarter of it.
   ”I’m crushed to be leaving,” Jorgensen said. “I’m so sad. It’s been a phenomenal experience. I’m so glad I’ve gotten to have the experiences of my senior year. Ted has done a great job with the program in the one year he’s been here.
   ”They’re going to be amazing. They’re going to be phenomenal. I can’t wait to see how they do next year.”
   Four other PNRA/Mercer boats competed at Youth Nationals. The women’s pair of senior captain Laura Foster (West Windsor) and Hayley Bork (Robbinsville) finished eighth overall.
   The women’s lightweight four consisting of senior Kristina Gatchalian (Monmouth Junction), freshman Elise Gorberg (West Windsor), freshman Hannah Reim (Skillman), junior Laura Tomlinson (Montgomery), and coxswain sophomore Kat Stough (Princeton) finished 11th.
   The men’s youth eight consisting of team captain seniors Tim Lee (West Windsor) and Joe Shavel (Princeton) as well as senior Kyle James (Princeton), senior Daniel Kennedy-Moore (Cranbury), senior Cameron Ward (West Windsor), junior Sean Kelly (West Windsor), Jack Gleim (West Windsor), sophomore Aaron Goodman (Princeton), and sophomore coxswain Matt Perez (Robbinsville) finished 11th.
   The men’s four consisting of sophomore Elias Albihera (Princeton), Finn Ludwig (West Windsor), junior Brad Mills (Princeton), junior Tom Walker (Princeton), and coxswain senior Monica Mendoza (West Windsor) finished 17th.
   ”The level of buy-in, their commitment to taking the message I’m putting out there and going and executing it, they were attentive and put that to work all year long,” Sobolewski said. “They had a lot of good things going on coming here, but sometimes it’s just a slightly different message. I had their attention from Day One. I’m impressed how they took my message and translated into it better rowing.”