Photo Courtesy of UD Photo Services

PRINCETON, N.J. -- University of Delaware rower Hillary Levitz (at right) is one of only 40 freshman nationally to be invited to the USRowing Women’s National Team Freshman Camp this summer.

Levitz, a communications interest major from Atlanta (Pope High School), will attend the camp June 21-27 at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. She is one of just four coxswains and one of just two Colonial Athletic Association athletes to be invited to the camp.

According to USRowing, the camp is for athletes with elite-level potential and aspirations, but who are freshmen in college and have only or two years of rowing experience. The goal is provide a week-long intensive experience to explose athletes to elite-level training, row in all boat categories, learn technical and physiological basics, and train with athletes of similar caliber.

She has enjoyed a solid rookie season for the Blue Hens in 2009 and will lead the team into its final competition this weekend at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. She has served as the coxswain for the second varsity eights crew all season, leading the team to a third place finish at the Colonial Athletic Association championships, a fourth place finish at the Kerr Cup, and a sixth place showing at the Murphy Cup.

While at Pope High School, Levitz was a two-year standout for the volleyball team and also was a two-year member of the St. Andrew Rowing Club. She led the rowing team to two regional team championships and a No. 13 national ranking.

Joining Levitz at the camp will be Keziah Beall, Francesca Lauritano, and Sarah Borchelt of Virginia, Chelsey Lauzon and Christina Bechtold of Central Florida, Elizabeth England and Rebecca Brown of Clemson, Naomi Carlson of Syracuse, Shannon Collins of Rutgers, Anna Psiaki, Tracy Eisser and Jeannette Friedman of Cornell, Abigail Gorman of Tulsa, Lawren Kieffer of Brown, Caitlin Mueller and Bronwyn Knaebe of Wisconsin, Erin Sodawasser of Iowa, Abigail Smith of Pacific Lutheran, Andrew Wensits of Indiana, Tess Wiggins of William Smith, Emma Porter, Allison Fast and Erika Berg of Minnesota, Erin Radigan, Teddi McGuire, Chelsea Quilling, Elise Perkins, and Elizabeth Braicks of Gonzaga, Julianne Smith and Susan Bryukhanov of Stanford, Jamie Chapman of Dartmouth, Ellen Heister, Emily Ralph and Emily Walsh of Ohio State, Brooke Sheppard of Oklahoma, Julia Jackson of Drexel, Taylor Goetzinger and Amy Gefell of Ithaca, and Rachel Pattison of Pennsylvania.