WONG TAKES SILVER AT NATIONALS

 

Tuesday, July 26th, 2005
Daily Mining Gazette
By BRAD SALMEN, Gazette Writer

HOUGHTON - A Michigan Tech University senior placed second in the nation this past weekend at the National Rowing Championships held in Indianapolis, Ind.

Tim Wong's silver-medal showing in the Senior Lightweight division is all the more impressive in that the 20-year-old White Bear Lake, Minn. native only began sculling in the MTU Rowing Club last fall. As such, he came into the Championships an unknown and, possibly, overlooked opponent for the 13 other competitors in his division.

Tim practices on the Lamprey river in Durham, NH 
Photo by Colleen Dreher


Tim(6) takes 2nd in a semifinal to advance,                
EVT Image

"I was a big underdog," said Wong, a materials science and engineering major. "It feels good, I've been training quite a bit and it's nice to see my hard work paid off."

Wong, at 6-foot-1, 155 lbs., is an "incredible athlete," who had prior success as a cross-country skiier, according to Terry Smythe, who coached him at the MTU Rowing Club. His prowess at sculling was so readily apparent that he went to New Hampshire in May to train full-time with a club there.

Smythe, who followed her protege's weekend by receiving regular updates from her husband, who was keeping pace via the Internet, couldn't have been more excited for her protege.

"I prepped him as best I could for the world he was about to enter," she said. "I was so nervous for him ... I never worried about the physical aspect, but the mental part can be so tough.