Around 4:30 p.m. on a Wednesday — when a lot of high school students might be settling into the couch after getting home from school — Franklin Regional freshman Emmajean Grove is carrying a boat down a ramp leading to the Allegheny River in Verona.

Grove and Riverview eighth grader Betsy McFadden lower the long, thin racing boat from their shoulders, secure their oars and move out toward the middle of the river as they wait for their club teammates.

Grove, 15, and McFadden are among nine members of the Steel City Rowing Club who are preparing to compete in the U.S. Rowing National Championships set for June 11-14 in Sarasota, Fla.

Both were part of a four-rower team, or “quad,” that finished in third place at the U.S. Rowing Midwest Regional Championships, which took place in mid-May in Ohio.

“Regionals went well for our quad,” she said. “I think the hardest challenge was not getting in my head and just kind of trusting what I was taught, how far I’ve come and all of my progress.”

Peter Hezel, 16, a sophomore at Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, also qualified to compete in nationals alongside Jacob Moore, a 16-year-old sophomore at the Pittsburgh Science & Technology Academy. Both were part of a quad team that took second at regionals.

“The goal is to be as aerodynamic as possible,” Hezel said. “So you need to rotate your (oar) blade so that it’s flat with the wind.”

Similar to the way a basketball player practices free throws until they become second nature, Hezel said keeping one’s oar blade in the optimal position is something rowers work on regularly.

Franklin Regional sophomore Taylor Buccicone, 16, also will head to nationals after earning a first-place finish in under-17 pairs rowing, along with a third-place finish as part of the quad that included Grove and McFadden.

“I’m excited at being able to compete on this high of a level, because it’s something I’ve been trying to work toward,” Buccicone said. “But I’m also excited just to spend some time in Florida with the team.”

While Grove, Buccicone, Hezel and Moore are making their first trip to nationals, Steel City regularly sends rowers to the highest level of U.S. Rowing competition.

The push to prepare has also led to extra practice time.

“On Sundays we’ve started doing morning practices, and we’re kind of extending practice times on some days,” Grove said. “We’re definitely putting in more hours and adding more meters to really work on our stamina and technique.”

The 2026 U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships kick off Thursday, June 11, at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. For more, see USrowing.org.