Central Florida girls queens of the water; reluctant rower Hannah Hill turns passion into national title

For a number of years Orlando area girls, especially those at Winter Park High School, have turned their passion for rowing into national championships. The Winter Park 8-person team won its third straight national title in May at Camden, N.J., and is currently in England competing at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta .

Individually Hannah Hill, who formerly rowed for Winter Park but this school year led the new Lake Howell team, won the single shell national championship in Camden as well.

Winter Park teams have been doing this for more than 30 years . Hill’s success is recent.

Her story is filled with twists and turns, but success at every corner. She initially didn’t want to row when her mother, Michelle Hill, suggested the sport to her two daughters.

“I was a dancer for 10 years and my mom always talked to me and my sister [Rachel] about it and we would get so annoyed, like, ‘We don’t care,’ ” Hannah laughs now. “Then Mom got a job coaching at Winter Park, and so the summer between my eighth- and ninth-grade years, 2019, there was this National Learn to Row Day, and she dragged me and my sister to it. We were like, ‘OK, whatever, we’re not going to care.’

“And I did it and here we are five years later. I loved it and I quit dance. This is it. This is what I’m doing.”

Doing it well. In May, Hannah became one of the few girls to medal four consecutive years at Nationals, and this year she took home the championship.

She has turned annoyance with her mother into a passion and she will be headed to the University of Virginia in August to continue her dreams.

Hannah is a tall girl at 6-foot, not the typical height for a dancer. But she fit right in at the Learn to Row event.

“I used to walk around hunched over because I didn’t like being so tall because I always stuck out like a sore thumb,” Hannah said. “I saw that all of the girls were tall and lanky like me.”

She fit rowing perfectly.

“My body just knew what to do, like I was made to row,” Hannah said. “I fell in love with it.”

She saw her potential when placed in the Varsity 8s as a Winter Park freshman.

“I was terrified in the workouts, but then I realized that I could hang with the older girls,” she said. “I understood I had a long way to go, but it gave me something to work toward.”

Eventually she started rowing solo and competed as such for the first time this season. She won the state title and then surpassed her expectations at the national regatta.

Hannah hoped to medal for the fourth consecutive high school season with a top-three finish.

“I was crying the night before. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone,” Hannah said. “I thought second would be my best-case scenario.”

She was beaten by a girl from Dallas by four seconds in the prelims but gave it her best shot in the final heat.

“I was out in front the whole time, and I was thinking it’s going to be so embarrassing if she catches me and beats me. I beat her by two seconds,” Hannah said. “In the last 500 meters she pulled up next to me. I was not going to let her pass me.”

Mom, who is from South Africa, was a competitive rower as a youth.

“I rowed in college. I was not at Hannah’s level. Nothing close,” said Michelle, who is her daughter’s coach as well as coach of Seminole County Area Rowing (SCAR).

“As I was carrying her off the dock, she said, ‘How was that for 13th gear?” Michelle said.

Father Kitt Hill is a longtime assistant football coach at Winter Park.

The Winter Park eights, rowing as the Orange Area Rowing Society (OARS), turned in a third consecutive national title performance. Those rowers included:

Coxswain: Stella Xu (senior signed with Notre Dame); Stroke Seat: Jill Schnitker, sophomore; 7 Seat: Kennedy Narine (Bucknell); 6 Seat: Reilly Harris (Yale); 5 Seat: Ava Gormley, junior (committed to Virginia); 4 Seat: Audriana Greene, junior (Tennessee commit); 3 Seat: Helena Scherr, junior (Tennessee commit); 2 Seat: Nadia Davidson, sophomore; Bow: Delaney Brinton (Cornell).

“Winning the national championship for the third time in a row is such an honor and is a testament to our team’s unwavering commitment, relentless effort, and unyielding belief in each other.” Winter Park coach Michael Vertullo said.

The Henley Regatta finals are Sunday.

Chris Hays can be found on X @OS_ChrisHays . He can be reached via email at chays@orlandosentinel.com .