Fox Chapel rower Gilmore claims title at Erg in the ‘Burgh indoor championships

By: Karen Kadilak
Monday, March 4, 2019 | 1:30 AM

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Fox Chapel rower Samuel Gilmore worked hard over the winter, and it paid off at the Erg in the ‘Burgh Indoor Rowing Championships Feb. 23 at North Allegheny.

Gilmore, a senior, took first place in the men’s varsity final in a career-best 6 minutes, 37.6 seconds over 2,000 meters. Daniel Andrud, a Fox Chapel senior and a former outdoor partner of Gilmore who competes for Three Rivers Rowing on Washington’s Landing, was second in 6:44.4.

They were among nine competitors.

“After rowing since freshman year, I’ve come to learn that the race isn’t the hard part; it’s the training,” Gilmore said. “My teammates and I have put in a lot of work over the winter, and I have been doing additional training leading up to North Allegheny Indoors.

“Going into NA, I was confident in myself and in the work I’ve put into training.”

Fox Chapel Crew coach Mark Bellinger said Gilmore’s work ethic is unsurpassed.

“As a senior, he could have chosen to coast a bit, but he has done just the opposite,” Bellinger said. “Sam has worked even harder, has dropped some weight and become stronger, and his erg scores have responded.

“Coaching seniors can be problematic because of habits that they pick up and are reluctant to change. Sam, however, has been open to making small changes in his technique, which have helped him power on the ergometer, and I suspect will, more importantly, help our team boat speed this spring.”

The 6-foot-1 Gilmore said his goals are to earn a gold medal in a single at the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Association Championship and qualify for the Scholastic Rowing Association of America Regatta, both in May.

Gilmore and Andrud placed second in the men’s high school junior 2x final at the 2017 Midwest Scholastic Championship.

Gilmore said beating Andrud at the ‘Erg in the Burgh was satisfying, but not his focus.

“I’m (prouder) of the fact that I finished in first and beat my personal record than beating my former teammate,” said Gilmore, who plans to attend Richmond and is undecided about continuing his rowing career in college.

In the women’s varsity final, Cassandre Korvink-Kucinski, a North Allegheny senior and a member of the Pittsburgh Rowing Club in Robinson, posted her best time (7:12.5) to win. Korvink-Kucinski avenged a loss at the Pittsburgh Indoor Rowing Championship in January, downing Three Rivers Rowing’s Julia Casey, an Avonworth senior, by close to five seconds.

There were 24 competitors.

Korvink-Kucinski, a 6-foot Texas recruit, returned to the scene of one of her earliest triumphs, a victory in the women’s novice event in 2016 for North Allegheny.

“Always a fun race,” she said.

Fox Chapel senior Kathryn Schwartzman (4:16.7) came in first of seven in the women’s coxswain 1,000-meter final.

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