Clayton’s Kara Kohler named USRowing Female Senior Athlete of the Year
USRowing announced that Kara Kohler of Clayton and Alex Karwoski have been selected as this year’s winners of the USRowing Female and Male Senior Athletes of the Year, respectively.
Selected by the athletes and coaches of the team that competed at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria, Kohler and Karwoski will be honored at the 2019 Golden Oars Gala on Thursday, Nov. 7, at the New York Athletic Club’s Manhattan location.
A seven-time national team member, Kohler won the bronze medal in the women’s single sculls in Austria, reaching the medal stand at the world championships in just her second year in the event.
Clayton Valley High graduate
Kohler graduated from Clayton Valley High School and Cal Berkeley. Growing up, she swam for the Dana Hills Swim Team and was presented her County Meet high point award one year by Natalie Coughlin, another local Olympic medalist.
“Thank you to my teammates for giving me this title,” Kohler said. “With their positive energy and encouragement, I am able to push myself daily towards being a better athlete and teammate. They inspire me to show up every day and give my best, and I cannot wait to see what we are capable of accomplishing during this Olympic year.”
In her first season in the single in 2018, Kohler finished fourth at the world championships. Previously, Kohler was a member of the bronze-medal women’s quadruple sculls at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the gold-medal women’s four at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.
Karwoski, an eight-time national team member, sat in the bow seat of the men’s eight that finished fifth at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, qualifying the boat for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. A 2016 Olympian, Karwoski has been a mainstay in the eight since 2015 and was part of the men’s eight that won the silver medal at the 2017 World Rowing Championships.
Click here for more information on USRowing.
Related story: Kohler takes bronze medal at World Championships