Meredith Hillmayer cracks CanAmMex roster
Meredith Hillmayer celebrated her inclusion on Rowing Canada’s CanAmMex roster in enemy territory.
Since early May, the Grade 12B student at E.L. Crossley Secondary School has been training with the Sarasota Crew in Sarasota, Fla.
“At the time, I was training with some of the American girls who had made the team so we were pretty excited to see if we would be racing against each other at some point,” she said.
At this point, that seems highly unlikely.
“Although there will be no CAM in 2021, Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) feels it is still important to announce a CAM squad. This squad represents those athletes who would have been invited to the CAM selection event. Additionally, if we are able to run regional programming or camps over the summer, this is the group that would be invited to participate,” a Rowing Canada press release said.
Athletes were selected for CanAmMex — normally a developmental regatta for young Canadian, American and Mexican rowers — based on submitted ergometer scores throughout the month of May.
“I was very excited,” Hillmayer said. “In Grade 10, I was pretty close to making it and then in Grade 11 we didn’t have the opportunity. I was happy to get a chance in my last year and that I was able to make it.”
The double gold medalist in the quad and double at the 2019 Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association championships was happy to get some good news after seeing her crucial Grade 11 and 12 years of rowing in front of university recruiters dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was pretty much just videos that I was sending in my single when I could get in it,” the 18-year-old Welland native said. “There were no races and the erg results were the only thing keeping me up to date, especially competing against all the girls from America who were racing when we weren’t. It definitely took its toll and I didn’t think I would be staying for another year of high school. But I think it will benefit me.”
The Fort Erie resident is planning to take her Grade 12B year at Crossley online and continue training in Sarasota in the fall.
“I liked it so much that I think I am going to go back for a year because it is so crazy here right now and I am not sure what the racing opportunities are going to be,” she said. “There’s lots of racing down there so I am going to end up down there for a bit of time this winter.”
Hillmayer is hoping that will allow her to achieve her rowing goals.
“I want to go to the States (for rowing) and I think that is an option for me. I am planning to commit somewhere this fall and I am going on my visit as soon as I can in September,” the St. Catharines Rowing Club member said.
She would love to get into coaching at the university level when her competitive career is over.
Hillmayer, who competed with Sarasota Crew at the 2021 USRowing Youth National Regatta, feels she has made strides as an athlete this past year despite the pandemic.
“Physically I have developed a little bit but not as much as I wanted to but mentally I developed a lot more because it was so difficult training during COVID, especially by myself,” she said. “Mentally I became a stronger athlete and that will help me not only in rowing but for the rest of my life.”
She knows she still has work to do.
“I want to keep training and get back in bigger boats because that is a nice experience for us. That last little inch we have left, I think if we push enough, we will be good.”
