SARATOGA WOMAN ROWER MINES GOLD FROM OAR.(SPORTS) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: ALAN HART Staff writer

Five years ago when Saratoga Springs native Heather Wakeley was a freshman at Dartmouth College, she decided she needed to try a new sport.

``I was on the volleyball team at Saratoga for three years, but I knew I wasn't good enough to make the volleyball team at Dartmouth,'' Wakeley explained. ``I heard about the rowing team and thought it might be interesting to try. I needed something to do, so I went to a meeting about it and decided to give it a try.''

Wakeley made the right decision.

After a noteworthy collegiate career in which, among other things, she became an All-America Collegiate Rower (one of only eight in the country) in both 1999 and 2000, Wakeley is now a national champion in two categories.

At the USRowing National Championships held this July 26-29 in Camden, N.J., Wakeley competed in both the Women's Intermediate Singler and the Women's Senior Single Sculls divisions. She won a gold medal and the national title in both events, winning with a big lead over the competition.

Wakeley raced in heats and semifinals, winning each Singles race. Competitors at Camden represented clubs from all over the country.

Last summer, she participated in two other National Championships in the Women's Eight and Fours, earning bronze and silver medals.

After attending Pre-Elite Camp at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego, she was selected for the Nations Cup (world championship for under-23 rowers) in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the U.S. team won the gold medal.

Thus a young lady who never knew what talent she possessed in this sport until her freshman year of college is now someone who has every right to think realistically about competing someday in the Olympic Games.

``Do I have Olympic goals? I definitely do, but I know I have to take one step at a time,'' Wakeley said. ``Right now I have one more year of grad school at Dartmouth, but I'm keeping in touch with the national team and what's going on.''

Wakeley has earned two undergraduate degrees from Dartmouth, getting her B.A. in 2000 and a B.E. in 2001. She is currently working on completing her Master's degree in Engineering Management.

In April this year, she attended National Speed Orders in Princeton, where she competed for the first time in a Single Scull, taking seventh place.

This summer, she has been training and coaching a women's Masters rowing program at Amherst, Mass. She has been training in doubles and in single sculls with a friend -- Francesca Beaudoin, a UMass-Amherst student.

Wakeley loves the sport of rowing and its challenges.

``They started the rowing team at Saratoga High the year after I graduated, so I really didn't know anything about the sport until I got to Dartmouth. But I have found that it really suits me,'' she said. ``I have always loved being outdoors, and I especially love being out on the water early in the morning. Rowing is extremely challenging, because mentally and physically the sport pushes you to your limit.''

She admits that making the adjustment from being one rower on a team to becoming a single scull racer was a difficult one.

``In college, you only row in eights, and you only have one oar,'' she said. ``In single scull, you have two oars and, obviously, you're on your own. It's definitely different. You have to learn a different technique.''

It has become apparent that Ms. Wakeley has learned it, all right.