Tulsa Alumna Michelle Sechser Named Ernestine Bayer Award Honoree by USRowing
12/1/2021 3:52:00 PM | Rowing
Read the USRowing.com Announcement
Tulsa rowing alumna Michelle Sechser, along with Olympic teammate Molly Reckford, were named the Ernestine Bayer Award (Woman of the Year) honorees by USRowing.com.
The honor is awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions to women's rowing and/or to an outstanding woman in rowing.
From their first race at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in February, the women's lightweight double sculls tandem of Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford showed they were the U.S. crew to watch during the delayed Olympic year. Sechser and Reckford would go on to be the first U.S. lightweight women's double to reach the Olympic final since 2000, setting an America record in the process, and earning this year's Ernestine Bayer Award (formerly Woman of the Year).
With COVID-19 forcing a one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Sechser, a University of Tulsa graduate and nine-time national team member, and Reckford, a Dartmouth College graduate and two-time national team member, made a statement that they were the U.S. crew to beat from the outset of the Olympic Trials. A dominant performance in Sarasota gave them the opportunity to race in Lucerne at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in mid-May. Sechser and Reckford were again up to the task, winning the FOQR in comfortable fashion and establishing themselves as a medal contender in Tokyo.
After finishing third in their heat in Tokyo, the Olympic rookies came back to dominate their repechage and then set an American record in the event during the semifinals, finishing just 0.18 seconds behind Italy and the new Worlds' Best Time. In the final, less than two seconds separated the entire field, with the U.S. taking fifth and missing a medal by a deck-length, but it was the best U.S. finish since Sarah Garner and Christine Collins won bronze in 2000.
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