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On this page, we hope to feature Shrewsbury High School Crew alumni in order to illustrate the contributions made to the SHS crew program over the years and share the impact that crew has made on their lives.  If you have any information that you'd like to share or have any suggestions of things that you'd like to see, please contact Mike Thomas. We hope to hear from you soon!

Shrewsbury Crew Alumnus   Katherine O'Brien   SHS 2000

Katie O’Brien is in her fourth year at UMass-Amherst and has greatly enjoyed her time as a member of its prestigious women’s rowing program, under the tutelage of Jim Dietz, the three-time Olympic rower and two-time Olympic coach.

The summer before her freshman year, Katie took part in the Shrewsbury Town Parks & Rec "Learn to Row" program  and became hooked on the sport.  She had a wonderful experience rowing at SHS and her crew experience helped her with college applications, along with good grades of course!  She was recruited by Miami, Duke, Virginia and UMASS, choosing UMASS, where she received several academic & sporting scholarships, including the Rick Pitino scholarship.

She characterizes the UMASS crew regime “as very tough, but also very rewarding”.  The dedication to get  up at 5.30 am to practice before starting a full  academic day has been rewarded with a successful college rowing career that was capped by capturing the college eights title at the prestigious Royal Henley Women's Regatta, in June 2003. 

Katie is graduating in 2004 and is currently applying to graduate law schools.

 

 

 

 

written by Mike Thomas

Katie O'Brien Named 2nd Team All-American

O'Brien Becomes Sixth UMass Rower To Be Honored By CRCA

June 2, 2004

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass senior rower Katie O'Brien (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury H.S.) was named Second Team All-America by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. O'Brien rowed in the fourth seat of UMass' nationally ranked varsity eight that won the Atlantic 10 Championship.

In addition to being named All-Region by the CRCA, O'Brien was honored by the UMass Athletic Department as its Scholar-Athlete of the Year. O'Brien graduated from UMass last month with a degree in Management and a 3.74 grade point average.

O'Brien led UMass to four Atlantic 10 team championships during her four years in Amherst. Last summer, she rowed in UMass' gold medal winning varsity eight at the Henley Regatta in England.

O'Brien becomes the UMass women's rowing team's sixth CRCA All-American.