Charlotte Shannon now rows for Santa Clara University

By Dean Wong

Former Ballard Beaver Charlotte Shannon has traded in her basketball for an oar at Santa Clara University where she is a top performer in the sport of rowing.

The Santa Clara women's crew finished the season with a fourth place performance at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last month while competing against 42 other schools.

During the West Coast Conference Championships in April, the team took second place, in what turned out to be the school's best showing since 1999.

In early May, Shannon was named to the U.S. Rowing's Women's National Team Freshman Camp with 21 other rowers from around the nation. The camp helps identify rowers who can compete at the National Team level.

"Charlotte's passion for rowing and her work ethic have been contagious amongst the novices. She is a leader by example, keeps the atmosphere light hearted, yet she works hard to inspire those around her. She is a joy to have out on the water and I'm excited to see her get the opportunity to pursue rowing outside of the collegiate environment," said Santa Clara Women's Crew Coach Carlo Facchino.

Shannon graduated from Ballard High in 2006 and chose Santa Clara over a number of colleges. "I applied for a lot of schools and this seemed like the place for me," said Shannon.

At Ballard, Shannon was a four-year starter on the girls basketball team and was elected as the captain for two of those years. She helped lead the team to the playoffs in the KingCo conference twice and was named to the league's Honorable Mention list her senior year.

She still plays basketball in pick-up games but competes seriously in rowing.

Shannon joined Santa Clara's Novice team in to get an idea what the sport is like.

At the end of the spring season, Head Coach Carlo Facchino brought Shannon up to an eight-person boat to see how she fit. The fit, it turned out was just right.

Shannon took up the sport to stay in shape after dealing with a back injury and says she fell in love with it.

"It's the most pure teamwork sport I have participated in. There is no MVP (Most Valuable Player) in rowing. The only way is to win or lose. when all eight want it, it's who wants it more," said Shannon.

Shannon has decided to double major in political science and environmental science at Santa Clara. She plans to eventually go to law school. She has a grade point average of 3.8.