.png)
Tulsa Alum Michelle Sechser Grabs Hardware at Pan Am Games
10/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Oct. 19, 2011
Ciudad Guzman, Mexico - Michelle Sechser, former University of Tulsa rower and coach, earned her second medal ever in international competition today. Competing in the Women's Quadruple Sculls event at the 2011 Pan American Games, Sechser's boat finished in third place for the USA in a close race that saw Argentina win the gold with Canada in silver position.
The US Quad had a sluggish start that saw them in fifth place at the halfway mark in today's race. The US women fought their way back through Cuba and Brazil to come within 1.7 seconds of the 2nd place Canadian crew. Mexico finished 6th.
On Tuesday, October 18, Sechser teamed with partner Chelsea Smith to earn bronze in the Lightweight Women's Quadruple Sculls. In that race, the US started third in a tight pack with Cuba and Mexico. All three boats fought back and forth with the US having the fastest final 500m, but not enough to catch the top two boats. Mexico would earn the gold, Cuba the silver, and the US boat the bronze.
"We closed in hard in the last 250, but we couldn't quite catch them," said Sechser.
Michelle Sechser is the first University of Tulsa rower to compete on the US National Team. She currently resides in Oklahoma City where she trains at the US Rowing Development Center and works for Chesapeake Energy.
