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FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. Area rowers and coaches will be honored by USRowing in events this week in New York and Hartford.
New Canaans Charlie Cole will be honored Tuesday as the Male Athlete of the Year. Andrew Campbell, also of New Canaan, will be honored at Saturdays annual convention in Hartford as USRowings Man of the Year. Maritime Rowing Club coaches Yan and Olga Vengerovskiy will be honored Saturday as the John J. Carlin award recipients for service to rowing.
Cole, who was coached by Yan Vengerovskiy in high school, will be honored at the inaugural Golden Oars Award Dinner on Wednesday in New York. Cole finished fourth with the U.S. mens four in the 2011 World Rowing Championships, helping the crew qualify for next years Summer Olympics. Earlier this summer, the Yale University graduate won bronze in the four at the 2011 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, and reached the finals of the Stewards Challenge Cup at the 2011 Henley Royal Regatta.
It's a great honor to be recognized this way by my teammates and coaches, said Cole. Brett (Newlin), Scott (Gault), Giuseppe (Lanzone) and I were lucky to get to race together all summer, and the guys helped me get a lot better. The most important thing is that everyone is looking forward. The end results were not great, and it's up to us to show that as individuals, and as a group, we can do better.
Campbell was chosen for his outstanding contributions to mens rowing. He rowed in Harvards lightweight eight in the spring and won the single at the USRowing National Championships. He followed that performance with a bronze medal in the event at the 2011 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Amsterdam and a fourth-place finish at the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia.
I was pretty excited when I got the call, said Campbell. It was definitely unexpected, and Im extremely flattered. If you had asked me at the beginning of the year if I expected all the success Ive had, I definitely would have looked at you a little funny.
Yan Vengerovskiy has been coaching in Fairfield County since 1992. He and Olga started the Water Sports Center and Maritime Rowing Club in Norwalk in 1996. Cole, Campbell and U.S. Olympian Dan Walsh are among the rowers who have been coached by the Vengerovskiys.
More information about the awards dinner and the national convention is available on USRowing.org.
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