Union Senior Cody Shafer Overcomes Adversity And Rows To 17th In The Nation at USRowing Youth Nationals

Sacramento, CA – Union Senior Cody Shafer rowed to a seventeenth place finish in the mens youth single at USRowing Youth Nationals on Sunday June 15th, 2014. Shafer earned an invitation to row at Youth Nationals by performing well at the Central Youth Regional Championships held in Oklahoma City last month.

Shafer has been involved with the Tulsa Youth Rowing Association for three and a half years and has overcome a great deal of adversity to earn an invitation to row at Nationals. In his freshman year at Union he suffered a back injury while playing football. At the time of his injury his doctors told him that the only sport that he could possibly participate in was swimming.

At that point, Shafer was looking for other options. Shafer continued to investigate and found the website for the Tulsa Youth Rowing Association (http://www.okrowing.org) and soon visited the boathouse to find out what opportunities were available to him.

Three and a half years later, Shafer has overcome this initial adversity and has now represented Tulsa at the national level and placed in the top 20 in the nation.

“USRowing Youth Nationals has been my goal from the very beginning. I started rowing three years ago and this regatta has been a great ending to an incredible high school career. Youth Nationals has given me a sense of fulfillment and an experience I will never forget” said Shafer of his experience at the regatta.

This Fall Shafer has signed to row and study at Oklahoma City University and hopes to pursue a degree in Cell and Molecular Biology

Shafer’s Coach, Micah Hartwell, said of nationals – “It’s always a privilege to come out to USRowing Youth Nationals and compete at this level. It’s also really great to be a part of the central region- all of the teams that came from our district, mainly consisting of Oklahoma and Texas, cheered for each other when they were on the water. It is a great learning experience for the athletes that builds camaraderie between our teams. I hope to be back at nationals next year with another group of athletes!”

TYRA is currently running summer camps in June and is actively recruiting new students from 7th to 12th grade for the 2014-15 rowing season. For more information visit the club website www.okrowing.org/camp or contact Head Coach Neil Bergenroth at coachb@okrowing.org.

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