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Avon's Rosow to Compete in World Rowing Junior Championships

Avon High School rising senior Jonathon Rosow will row on the junior men's quad (4x) national team in Eton, England Aug. 4 to 7.

For most teenagers in high school, summers are filled with working mundane jobs, volunteering and meeting the requirements of summer reading lists.

Not so for Avon High rising senior Jonathon Rosow, who has already had a full summer while rowing for the New Canaan Rowing Club.

Indeed, this week Rosow, 17, received official word that he has been selected to represent the United States at the 2011 World Rowing Junior Championships in Eton, England, which will be held Aug. 4 to 7.

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Rosow will compete on the U.S. junior men's quad (4x) national team and will be heading to England July 28.

The announcement was particularly sweet for Rosow, who was left off last year’s top junior national team despite posting numbers that placed him in the top four rowers at the junior men’s national team quad selection camp.

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At this year’s camp held in Milford, Rosow was determined to not give the coaches any reason to leave him off the squad, earning a spot on the team by placing at the top of each test.

“It’s always been a dream,” said Rosow. “I earned my spot.”

Rosow said that his goal is nothing short of blazing a new trail for the U.S. team, which has never had a boat compete above a “C” final.

“We want to do something special,” Rosow said.

It’s just the latest piece of good news for Rosow, who, along with three teammates from the New Canaan Rowing Club, won the USRowing Youth National Championship in the men’s open weight quad (4x) to cap off an undefeated season against the top competition in the country.

The USRowing Youth National Championships, held on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Riddge, TN, from June 10 to 12, featured more than 1,500 athletes from 148 programs (who qualified in regional championships) from high school and junior rowing programs across the country competing for national titles in 18 boat classes (men’s and women’s eight, lightweight eight, quadruple sculls, four with coxswain, lightweight four with coxswain, pair, double sculls, lightweight double sculls and single sculls).

The New Canaan crew won the “A” Final by open water — the rowing term for a rout — ahead of Malvern Prep (who claimed the silver medal) and Pocock Rowing Club (from Washington State) who earned the bronze medal. 

“We were in it to win it,” Rosow said of winning the national title. “That was the goal from Day 1. … When we hit halfway [we knew] there was no way we were going to lose that race. We didn’t have to make any crazy sprints. It was pretty cool.”

To qualify for the national championship, Rosow and his teammates won the Northeast Regional Regatta in May.

Not bad for someone who first began rowing his freshman year of high school.

“My dad was on the national team,” Rosow said. “[The national title and being named to the national team] was always something to strive for.”

He’s done all of this despite, at 5’9”, being on the short side for a rower.

The key, according to Rosow, is not just in power and endurance, but also in the mental approach to rowing.

“You do what you think you can do,” Rosow said. “How far are you willing to push yourself?”

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