Victories for the Upper St. Clair rowing team are rare.

So when senior Osa Wheeler and junior Madelyn “Maddie” McConaghy took first place in the women's double sculling event in the Dillon Lake Scholastic Sprints regatta April 22 in Ohio, the Panthers were jubilant.

“The rest of the team is really excited about it,” Panthers coach RJ Pisani said. “It gives us a lot of momentum to build on as we gear up for the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship in three weeks.”

The regional meet will be on the same 1,500-meter course May 13-14.

Wheeler and McConaghy, who were in the bow and stroke seats, respectively, posted a time of 7 minutes, 34.40 seconds, comfortably ahead of second-place Parkersburg South of West Virginia (7:52). They were one of six teams.

“We knew we had to beat two out of six boats to make the finals, so that was our goal,” said Wheeler, 17, a captain. “When it came to our race in the final, our strategy remained the same: stay calm, stay clean, stay long and stay strong. Crossing the line (close to) 20 seconds before any other boat definitely felt victorious.”

The two have rowed for three years, but paired up just this season. They came in third of nine boats in the women's high school 2x final in the Speakmon Memorial Regatta last October in Columbus, Ohio.

“We have a common mindset of leaving all of our power out on the water, making our attitudes more competitive and driven,” said Wheeler, who plans to try out for an NCAA Division I team.

McConaghy, 17, said she and Wheeler are good at staying calm and motivating each other.

“When I met Osa my novice year, I immediately knew she was the type of person I wanted to be friends with,” she said.

Wheeler expects stiffer competition in regionals.

“Having such a big win is a confidence booster, but we know the field of competition will be different with bigger and stronger teams,” she said. “We have to work hard through practice to stay competitive in the coming races.”

Wheeler and McConaghy were among three Panthers boats to reach the finals.

Junior Brendan Fortunato and senior captain Kapil Sharma were seventh in men's double sculls (8:01.80). The women's junior four of sophomore Grace Wagner, junior Laura Yates and sophomores Amanda Shaffer and Vivian Boettger plus sophomore coxswain Kyra Hughes placed sixth (7:48.68).

Karen Kadilak is a freelance writer.

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