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07/03/2013 12:00 AMAfter she spent years playing multiple sports, Guilford resident Emily Patton found her athletic calling with rowing and has ridden a wave all the way to top national recognition.
The recent Hopkins graduate placed fourth in the Women's Youth Varsity Openweight 8+ Division at the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on June 9 with her Saugatuck rowing team of Westport by posting a time of 6:50.53. Finishing fourth out of 22 boats in the overall competition capped off an undefeated spring season for the club and a prosperous high school run for Emily, who will continue her rowing career at Yale.
"To finish fourth was an amazing experience," said Emily, whose team won its initial heat race before another victory in the semifinal round. "It was amazing for not only the accomplishment, but also working toward it all year. It was the culmination of all of our team's efforts. To compete on the national level is a really cool and unique experience."
Emily says that after partaking in a rowing camp the summer before her freshman year, she fell in love with the sport. Her excitement for it translated into rowing as a freshman at Hopkins, where she did it during the fall season as a freshman and sophomore and again in the spring as a junior before she went to the Saugatuck squad.
"I joined Saugatuck during the summer of last year because I was working on being recruited for colleges and many of them asked if I was ready for the college-level intensity of the sport," says Emily. "The Hopkins program was amazing, but I joined this squad to get myself fast enough and prepared for the collegiate action."
Speed is also one of many aspects that make rowing so pleasurable for Emily as she feels the activity requires the perfect combination of strength and agility. From a group standpoint, Emily states the key to team triumphs is a lot of routine testing with both the waters and vessel themselves.
"What I really like about the sport is that it combines power and finesse," Emily says. "You have to work on building your strengths and techniques. The best feeling is when all the pieces of both the boat and the team come together. It's awesome. Many things go into consideration towards building a boat because it is more than who can pull the fastest. It's also about people who can work together with much repetitive work."
In addition to having an unblemished mark before Nationals during her senior year, Emily and her Saugatuck squad took first place at the Greenwich Invitational, Mercer Lake Sprints, Saratoga Invitational Regatta, Long Island Championships, and the Northeast Regional Championships with the latter pushing them into the national spotlight.
"This year was the best season anyone could have asked for," says Emily, whose team will soon race at both the Independence Day Regatta and Club Nationals. "What enabled us to have such great success was that our boat was made thanks to hard work from everyone on the team. We started with a strong base and then committed ourselves to following through."
Saugatuck Coach Chase Graham states that Emily grasped the lay of the land rapidly with the squad as she also became a leader possessing the right spirits.
"Emily almost passed out during one of our first workouts, but three months later, she began to perform at such a high level," says Graham. "She has such a great, can-do attitude and is a positive kid. She was a leader on this team and really wanted to work towards the national title."
As Emily embarks on the next stage of her aquatic journey, she is eager to contribute toward continuing the historic legacy of the Yale Bulldogs' rowing program.
"I am really excited about rowing for Yale," says Emily, who thanks father Tom, Hopkins rowing coaches Nate Case and Kate Weber, along with her Saugatuck coaches and teammates. "Coach Will Porter is also excited about our group of rowers. The program has been really strong lately and it's about to get stronger."