Whitemarsh Boat Club, Inc

Support the Lightweight Women’s Quad!

We- Liz, Aislinn, Katrina, and Claire, have joined forces as a resilient lightweight rowing team with a shared ambition: to represent Team USA at the upcoming 2024 World Rowing Championships and achieve success in the LW4x event!

Since its introduction for women in 1985, lightweight rowing has become a symbol of inclusivity within the sport, highlighting the exceptional technical skills of athletes like us. While Team USA last secured a bronze in the LW4x in 2013, the coveted gold has eluded us since the 1990s. In this crucial year for lightweight rowing at the Olympics, our goal is to preserve the competitiveness of this class and excel at the 2024 World Rowing Championships, aiming to bring home a medal for our nation!

Why Your Support Matters

The LW4x event in the US operates on a self-funded basis without financial support from USRowing, our governing body. This necessitates us independently covering all costs related to training, competition, travel, accommodation, transportation, USRowing fees, and equipment. Our packed summer race schedule includes these significant events:

Your contributions are vital to help us reach our fundraising target of $18,500.

Estimated cost breakdown:

Europe racing - $6,500

USRowing fees for World Championships - $3000/person x 4 = $12,000

Meet Our Committed Crew

Training rigorously with the Black Sheep Racing Team at the Whitemarsh Boat Club in Conshohocken PA, Aislinn, Katrina, and Claire united in autumn 2023 and welcomed Liz in March this year to complete a strong LW4X lineup. Scroll down for team bios.

Stay updated on our journey as we strive for excellence on the water! You can follow Black Sheep Racing on Instagram or check this page for regular updates.

Your unwavering support and encouragement fuel our determination as we embark on this thrilling pursuit of sporting achievement. Let's stand together to champion lightweight rowing and propel Team USA to triumph on the global stage!

Personal Bios

Liz Martin

Liz started rowing in high school at Buckingham Browne & Nichols (BB&N) and competed in the NEIRA league. She attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was a four-year member and captain of the varsity Lightweight Women’s Division 1 Team, racing at IRAs for all four years in the Lightweight Women’s 8+ as well as setting 2k and 5k program records on the erg. Notably, she finished 5th at IRAs in the Lightweight Women’s 8+ in 2016, 1st at Dad Vails in 2015 and 2016, and 3rd in the Head of the Charles in 2016. She placed 3rd at the CRASH-B erg sprints in the Open and U23 Lightweight events in 2018. She was a two-time CRCA National Scholar Athlete and member of the IRA All-Academic Team.

Since graduating from MIT in 2018, she has been training out of Riverside Boat Club in Boston, MA. In 2021, she competed at the Olympic Trials in the Lightweight Women’s Double, placing 3rd in her semifinal to narrowly miss out on the four-boat final. She proceeded to go undefeated in the Lightweight Women’s Single in 2021, winning the Independence Day Regatta, USRowing Club Nationals, the Head of the Charles, and the Head of the Schuylkill, as well as the local Head of the Kevin Race Series. She additionally won the Lightweight Women’s 2- at USRowing Club Nationals.

In 2022, she represented the US for the first time internationally in the Lightweight Women’s Quad, racing at the World Championships in Racice, Czech Republic. Before racing at the World Championships, the quad raced at the Women’s Henley Regatta in England as well as at the Holland Beker Regatta in Amsterdam to gain international experience. Domestically, the crew won both the open and lightweight quad events at USRowing Summer Nationals.

After Worlds in 2022, she raced the Lightweight 1x at the US Pan American Games Trials and earned a berth to represent the US in the Lightweight Women’s Double at the Pan American Games Qualifier Regatta in Concepcion, Chile along with the next-placed finisher in the race. At the Qualification Regatta in April of 2023, the crew placed 3rd and qualified for the Games in Santiago in October where they improved on their finish, placing 2nd and bringing home a silver medal. In the summer of 2023, she raced overseas in the Lightweight 1x at the Holland Beker Regatta, where she placed 2nd, and at World Rowing Cup 3, in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she placed 5th. She placed 4th at the trial for the World Championships in the Lightweight Women’s 1x. To finish the summer season, she raced a weight class up in the Heavyweight 1x at the Canadian Henley regatta, where she placed 6th overall.

Read an article about Liz’s journey here !

Aislinn O’Brien

Aislinn started rowing when she was 14 for Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor, PA. She fell in love with the sport when she finally got out of the “learn to row” phase and started competing. While in high school, her freshman 8+ went undefeated for the majority of the season, she stroked 6 boats to as many wins at the Catholic League Championships over 3 years, was a part of several program high finishes at the SRAA National Championship, Stotesbury Cup Regatta and Philadelphia City Championships, along with winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. She also had multiple wins as a lightweight at the Main Line Slide indoor erg race.

Aislinn was recruited to row Division I for Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA where she started in 2019. Throughout her time at Saint Joe’s, she was a consistent member of the Varsity 8, picking up wins in the Jesuit Invitational, two bronze medals at the A10s Conference Championship, a win in the Women’s Pair at the Navy Day Regatta (2022), and a 2nd place finish in the Women’s Championship Pair at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta (2022). Aislinn was also named A10s First Team All Conference in 2023 and was a team captain from 2021-2022. She graduated from SJU in the fall of 2022 with a bachelor’s in Health Sciences and a minor in Psychology, and began her Masters in Health Administration in the spring of 2023 while finishing up her collegiate rowing career.

Aislinn spent her summers from 2019 to 2022 rowing for Vesper Boat Club on Boathouse Row, with some of her results including a 1st place win in the LW2x at Independence Day Regatta 2021, 2nd in the U23 LW1x at the USRowing National Championship 2022, and 1st in the U23 Women’s 8+ at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta 2022.

After graduating from SJU, Aislinn spent the summer of 2023 training and competing for the Conshohocken Rowing Center’s U23 High Performance program. There, she trained and competed in the LW2x alongside Katrina Miehlbradt. Aislinn and Katrina won the U23 National Team Trials and qualified their boat for the U23 World Championships, where they ended up placing 11th. At the end of the summer, Aislinn joined Black Sheep Racing and has won 2nd place in the LW1x and 1st in the LW2x and OW4x at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta, as well as taking 5th place at the Head of the Charles in the LW1x.

Katrina Miehlbradt

Katrina grew up in New Zealand and started rowing in her final year of high school at North Shore Rowing Club in Auckland. She completed her novice season with gold in the novice women's 4X and silver in the novice women's 4+ at the NZ Rowing Championships in 2019.

Katrina attended the University of Toronto where she was a member of the Varsity Blues Rowing Team throughout her college career from 2019-2023. She placed 3rd in the varsity LW4+ and 4th in the LW2x at the Ontario University Championships in her freshman year. Katrina ended her senior year at the University of Toronto with 4th place in the varsity LW2x and 5th place in the varsity women’s 8+ at the Canadian University Championships, as well as being a part of the winning 8+ crew in the inaugural women’s Toronto McGill boat race. She was awarded Oarswomen of the Year, and Women’s and Top Scholar Varsity Athlete of the Year. During the summers in college, Katrina rowed at Argonaut Rowing Club where she earned two gold medals at the 2022 RowOntario Championships in the senior LW2x and senior LW4-. At the Royal Canadian Henley in 2022, she placed 2nd in the senior LW2x and senior LW4x and 3rd in the U23 LW2x and senior LW4-.

After graduating from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s in Environmental Science and Conservation Biology, Katrina was a part of the Conshohocken Rowing Center U23 High Performance program in the summer of 2023. She competed in the LW2x with Aislinn O’Brien, winning U23 trials in the boat and going on to compete at the Under 23 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, representing Team USA where they placed 11th. Katrina ended her 2023 season winning gold in the Lightweight Women’s Champ 2x at her first Head of the Charles and joined the Black Sheep Racing Team to win gold in the Women’s Openweight Champ 2x and 4x at the Head of the Schuylkill.

Claire Friedlander

Claire began rowing when she was 15 for Sacred Heart Academy in Bryn Mawr, PA. During her time on the team, she was named MVP in 2018, won the 2018 Philadelphia Indoor Erg Challenge, 2019 Main Line Slide, and 2019 Center City Slam, and had notably high finishes in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, Philadelphia City Championships, and Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship.

To become more active in her community, she began her career as a volunteer firefighter for Gladwyne Fire Company in 2018. Practices on the Schuylkill were often followed right after by evening class to complete her Firefighter 1 training. While not rowing for her high school, she rowed for various teams such as UBC, CRC, and Vesper. In 2019 she placed first in the lightweight 8 at the Canadian Henley for Vesper

In 2019, she was recruited to row Division I for the University of Wisconsin- Madison Lightweights. She went on to make varsity as a freshman in college that fall. There, she notably placed 2nd in both the Lightweight Varsity 8+ and JV 4+ at The Dadvail Regatta (2022), and was named Academic All-Big Ten. She received top placements at Stanford Invite, and SIRA Regatta (2022), and 5th at IRA’s (2021, 2023). In 2022, she placed 3rd at U23 Club Nationals in the U23 Open weight quad. That summer, she represented the US for the first time internationally in the U23 Lightweight Women’s Quad, racing at the World Championships in Varese, Italy where she placed 4th.

Following her graduation from Wisconsin, she has returned to Philadelphia to compete with the Black Sheep Racing Team. Since competing at the high-performance level, she placed 3rd in the LW1x, and 1st in the LW2x, and OW4x at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.

M. Sean Hall

Coach Hall is a Level 3 certified coach and has been in the sport of rowing for nearly 40 years, beginning his coaching career in earnest in 2001, immediately following his third Olympiad as an oarsman. From 2001 to 2004, he coached alongside Igor Grinko at the Augusta Training Center, which was started by Grinko immediately following his departure from USRowing as Head Sculling Coach. In this role, Sean formed the Trials-winning LM4x, which finished fourth in the 2004 World Championships in Banyoles, Spain. In 2005 Sean followed in his mentor’s footsteps and took a position coaching in China (Fu Jian province) as Head Women’s Coach, bringing the team its first-ever medal in the W8+ at the Chinese National Games, a result which earned him an invitation to return three years later.

Following the 2009 National Games, Sean moved to Hong Kong to work with the HK National Team, and then to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC), where he was the only coach in Hong Kong history to bridge the divide between the club, university, and national teams with his University Elite Program. In this program, Hong Kong university athletes got their first-ever opportunity to race in the West (San Diego Crew Classic), and under the banner of the RHKYC. Several of these athletes then went on to qualify for the HK National Team.

After a brief stint in Taiwan from late 2014 to early 2015, Sean returned to the US and took on the position of Head/High-Performance Coach at Penn AC. At the time, Penn AC had only six athletes and had not seen a Trials victory since 2006, but by the end of 2016, Penn AC athletes had won Henley, Canadian Henley, US Nationals, Head of the Charles, Head of the Schuylkill, and the Fall Speed Order. 2017 (and every year since) saw PAC athletes winning World Championships trials for the first time in over a decade. From 2017-2021, PAC athletes competed in three World Championships (M4x, M2x, LW4x, and LW2-), 4 World Cups (M4x, M2x), Amsterdam, and Henley.

In 2022, Sean formed the Black Sheep Racing Team rowing out of Whitemarsh Boat Club on the upper Schulkykill. He has had notable success with his athletes on this team, including sending a LW4X to the 2022 World Championships, coaching athletes to making the 2023 national team and medalling internationally in the LW1X, and numerous national successes by his athletes in Head of the Charles, Head of the Schuylkill, US Nationals and Speed Orders.

As an athlete, Sean competed in 3 Olympics and 5 World Championships in both sculling and sweep, where his top performances include gold and two bronze medals and a world record.

Please consider supporting my European Racing campaign by donating to Whitemarsh Boat Club High Performance! My coach, M Sean Hall, and I have set an ambitious schedule of summer racing that will include:

These races will help me gain invaluable, racing experience in preparation for US National Team trials in Mercer, New Jersey at the end of July. Because of changes in the selection process for the US National team, this is currently my only path to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

I will represent the US at World Cup 2 and 3, in the lightweight single. However, all of the racing and traveling will be self-funded. Therefore, support is very much needed and appreciated.

All support will go to cover:

P.S. Whitemarsh Boat Club is a non-profit, and all donations are tax-deductible.

I will send a thank you in the form of a snazzy postcard from somewhere in Europe (sorry New Jersey!) for any gift over $50. Thank you in advance!