GH kayakers bound for Pan Am Games

Group set to compete in Montreal next week

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

The Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak team is bound for international waters.

Five of team’s kayakers — four girls and one boy — qualified for the Pan American games late last month in Oklahoma City. The games will be held May 15-18 in Montreal, Canada.

The club’s most elite kayaker — 18-year-old Gig Harbor High School senior Katarina Batina — was there for the Olympic trials. She was the first athlete from the team to compete at one of the highest levels in women’s senior kayaking.

Each one of the local athletes will compete at the Pan American Games for one main reason: To soak up the international experience.

After the competition is over, some of them will stop pursuing the goal of representing their country in the Olympic Games and others will use it as an international stepping stone.

If an athlete does well at the Pan American Games, they have an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. However, none of the Gig Harbor racers will have a chance until the 2012 London Games.

There are just 300 international athletes who will compete in the Pan American Games. This year, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Canada, United States, Venezuela, Argentina/Uruguay and Puerto Rico/Ecuador make up the nine teams from various parts of the world.

The Gig Harbor athletes will get a taste of what’s out there — and potentially learn how they can become better kayakers.

Gig Harbor High School senior Emily Winskill qualified in the K-2 1,000. For her, it was the largest goal of the year.

“I’m just looking for a great experience,” she said. “For some, it’s a stepping stone because they have the Olympic dream.”

While Winskill said she plans to attend Seattle Pacific University and major in communication, she said the Pan American Games could possibly be her last competitive kayak race.

She does have plans of rowing in college, but not kayaking.

Her kayaking partner, Katy Hill, has other plans. A 15-year-old sophomore at Bellarmine Prep, Hill said she wants to stay in the sport for a long time. Her dream is the 2012 Olympics — and other international regattas.

“It’s (kayaking) my favorite thing,” she said. “I used to play other sports, but I stopped for kayaking.”

Hill is building her international experience by visiting Montreal for the Pan American Games. She participated in the Junior World Games last year in the Czech Republic.

She’ll be paddling with Winskill and another teammate, Annie Truscott, in the K-2 500.

“We’re really excited to go to Montreal,” she said. “It felt very good to make the team, and it shows that you can do anything with hard work and mental strength.”

Members of the GHCK condition nine times a week, with additional weight and cardio workouts.

Cedric Bond, a sophomore at Covenant High School in Tacoma, qualified for the Pan American Games but declined the invite because he’s recovering from a shoulder injury. He has a goal of making the Junior World Championships in Moscow next year.

He’ll also be attending an exclusive developmental camp in New York this summer.

Although he’s not going to Montreal, he said the qualification was an affirmation that he’s still good enough to compete.

“It’s nice to see I’m still here and that I can pull a good race,” he said.

A songwriter who attends the Tacoma School of the Arts, Annie Truscott qualified with Hill in the K-2 500. She said qualifying was a blur of happiness.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Truscott, 17.

Having been a kayaker for six years, she said she’s never made to the international level. Still, Truscott doesn’t plan to kayak competitively after the Pan American games.

“It was a perfect enclosure to a really great senior year,” she said. “It’ll be a really good last trip for me as a team member.”

Batina wasn’t in Oklahoma City for the Pan American qualifications. She was there for the Olympic trials.

And while she didn’t make the U.S. team, she received terrific news.

“The nomination ceremony was over and we were loading the trailer, and I was a bit frustrated and somebody said, ‘Want to go to the Pan American Games?’ I was like ‘Yes,’ and I danced around and stuff,” Batina said.

Batina said it’ll be nice to be with her GHCK teammates, because they often don’t go to the same competitions.

“I’m really excited, because we’ve been separated because of developmental teams since we we’re younger,” she said. “We’ve never been together at the same time. We’re excited to enjoy the international experience.”

Batina said she will tenatively compete in the K-4 1,000 and K-4 200 events.

Off to Canada

The Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak team will travel to Montreal next week for the Pan American games.

Katy Hill — A sophomore at Bellarmine Prep, she will be competing in the K-2 500 and K-2 1,000.

Annie Truscott — A student at the Tacoma School of the Arts, Truscott will be paddling in the K-2 500 with Hill.

Emily Winskill — A senior at Gig Harbor High School, Winskill will participate in the K-2 1,000.

Cedric Bond — He declined his invite to the Pan American Games to rehabilitate his shoulder in order to prepare for a select camp this summer at Lake Placid, N.Y. He qualified in the K-2 1,000.

Katarina Batina — Didn’t make the U.S. Olympic team but qualified for the PanAm games. She may compete in the K-4 1,000 and the K-4 200.

Reach Sports Editor Marques Hunter at 253-853-9243 or marques.hunter@gateline.com.