WHEN you think Kelso High School and sport, rowing might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but two medals from last week’s NSW Combined High Schools Championships means the school certainly has presence in the water sport.
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Samantha Pett and Aaron Simmons both secured podium results at the Penrith-based Sydney International Regatta Centre, making it yet another sport in which Kelso High has shone.
That both are relative newcomers to the sport bodes well for the school.
Pett took up rowing around two years ago and her efforts at the CHS titles show just how much she has improved.
Twelve months ago she did not qualify for the final of the under 15s single scull, this time around she claimed gold in the under 16s event.
Pett went into the event hoping to get on the podium, and by winning her heat of the 1,000-metre event by 9.7 seconds, she gave herself a chance to do so.
She was the fastest qualifier for Friday’s decider – having taken out her heat in four minutes, 21.08 seconds – which earned her lane five. Her tactics as she came up against seven other finalists were simple.
“I just try to get in front and stay in front the whole way,” she said.
“I had rowed against some of those girls before, but there were others I didn’t know and that can make it tough because you don’t know what you’re up against.”
While 14-year-old Pett might have faced unfamiliar rivals, with the time she crossed the line, she made sure they will remember her. The Kelso rower finished eight seconds clear of Sydney Girls High rower Georgina Bradley with third-placed Grace Harvey (Merewether) a further 3.11 seconds back.
Pett’s winning time was a 4:31.17.
Simmons, who was attending the CHS titles for the first time and took up the sport 12 months ago, contested the men’s under 17s single scull.
Being over 2,000m there were no heats, Simmons automatically forming part of the seven-man final.
Though the 15-year-old could not match the efforts of eventual winner Max Brenner (Concord), he managed to hold on for second.
“The final went pretty well. I was in second for most of the race, the guy who won was 22 seconds ahead,” he said.
“It feels pretty good when you get to the end.”
When he got to the end he was 6.29 seconds clear of third-placed Oliver Lethbridge (Sydney Boys High), having clocked an 8:40.83 effort.
