Students aim to make waves in regatta

Dallas: After 2 years on crew team, teens invited to prestigious event

07:57 AM CDT on Friday, October 21, 2005

By JACKIE LARSON / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Two Dallas high school seniors who went from novice rowers to state champions in just two years will row in the world's largest two-day regatta.

LAWRENCE JENKINS/Special Contributor

Jesse Bates (front) and Mike Miersma, both 17, will head to Boston to participate in the upcoming Men's Junior Double Race of the 41st Head of the Charles regatta. The two are seniors at The Cambridge School of Dallas.

Mike Miersma and Jesse Bates will represent The Cambridge School of Dallas on Sunday in the Men's Junior Double Race of the 41st Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.

The grueling three-mile course will be crowded, with more than 7,000 entries starting at staggered times over the weekend. At speeds of up to 20 mph, depending on wind and water conditions on the Charles River, the locals will negotiate a maze of buoys, seven bridges – and all those other boats.

Just getting the invitation to race was quite a moment for the duo, their coach said.

"It's one of the most prestigious regattas in the world, and these guys worked very hard for a couple years for this," said the coach, Patrick Hamner.

Last year, the pair qualified for the U.S. Rowing National Youth Invitational Regatta in Cincinnati, where they faced teams crewed by seniors and came home with a bronze medal.

"That puts them in line to be in a very good position to win the nationals this year, which is their goal," Mr. Hamner said.

He started coaching the team after the previous two coaches moved out of the area. His own son had already joined The Cambridge School of Dallas rowing program.

The crew gets additional instruction from national rowing guru Marlene Royle, who assigns them workouts to follow, communicating via long distance and videotapes.

Additional help comes from Alison Howlett, a former Cambridge University rower, and the Dallas Rowing Club.

"I'm more of a facilitator – the boys are the ones doing the work," Mr. Hamner said. "They get up at 5 a.m. to train every day. It's a sport where the amount of work you do translates into performance on the course – the correlation's absolutely direct."

Jesse recalled starting the fledgling team. "We were the pioneers – nobody else from our school had rowed before," the Lakewood-area resident said.

He said the school had already purchased a boat in the hopes of forming a team.

"The boat was lying around, and we saw it and talked to the coach," Jesse said. "He told us it was the coolest thing ever and we had to try it."

His interest in basketball quickly waned as he got into rowing in a double scull out of the Dallas Rowing Club on Bachman Lake.

"It made me want to stop all other sports," he said. "I love the challenge that it puts before you every day. I like the speed that you feel in the boat, and I like the strong friendships that have been formed around the time we spend together."

Mike, who lives in Dallas, said the duo first focused on winning the state championship. They won in the novice division.

"The next year, we dedicated ourselves to winning state for varsity – we did do that in the doubles, so that meant we went to the nationals," he said. "This year, the dedication is to making first in the nationals."

Mike likes the hard work rowing requires. "It's a sport you don't have to have any talent in going in," he said. "If you want to be good quickly in high school, you have to dedicate yourself to the sport."

Jackie Larson is a Dallas-area freelance writer.

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