Saturday, June 9, 2012

Davidson student makes Olympics as a kayaker



Congratulations to Caroline Queen, a Davidson student who qualified this weekend in Cardiff, Wales for the 2012 Olympics.

Queen, 20, is from Darnestown, Md., but moved to the Charlotte area a couple of years ago to go to Davidson and to be close to the U.S. National Whitewater Center, where she trains. She took the spring semester off from Davidson to pursue her Olympic dream, and it worked -- she will be the only American women's kayaker in London. She will then return for her junior year at Davidson in the fall semester.

To get the spot, Queen had to edge fellow American Ashley Nee in Wales. Nee would have had to finish in the top 20 and beat Queen to have gotten the spot, because Queen held a tiebreaker over Nee due to some earlier results.

Instead, Queen finished 35th and Nee 37th in the international competition -- far out from the leaders, but good enough for Queen to clinch her first Olympic spot.

"It's kind of hard to believe at this point," Queen said after the competition in Wales in a statement issued by USA Canoe/Kayak. "The selection process is so long. This morning I woke up and couldn't believe it was here. And now that it's done, I can't believe that that's all she wrote. But it is. It's pretty incredible and I'm really glad that I'm with my family to share the moment and my teammates and coaches and staff and everybody."

Queen will be joined by Scott Parsons and Casey Eichfeld on the whitewater side of the U.S. team. Both of those men have made the U.S. Olympic team before. Three two-man canoe teams are vying for the final spot in the Olympics, including Charlotte's Dave Hepp and Scott McCleskey (Sylva, N.C.)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Davidson is a complete joke!! BAWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Tarhole fan I presume? Go cheat, pay players or cover up exonerating evidence or something. Then enjoy being the fourth (yes fourth!) best academic school in the state.

Anonymous said...

The Davidson heckler was just released from the airport holding cell. Locked up for trying to ruch the cockpit on a L.A. to Clt. flight today.

Anonymous said...

NC academic prestige (fact-based, no delusion):

1. Duke (obvioius; top-10 school)

2. DAVIDSON (Top 10 lib arts, US News)

3. Wake Forest (#25, US News)

4. UNC (#29, US News, *ranking pending given academic fraud investigation)

4. (tie) NC State (scandal-free)

5. Charlotte/Elon/UNC-W/etc.

Anonymous said...

Was Cam at the Auburn party? Panthers got lucky and dodged the bullet for once. Wait'll next time ...

Anonymous said...

newton and auburn go together now like pay and play, cheat and lie, and panthers and losing.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I was pretty sure this article was about a 20-year-old whitewater kayaker making the US Olympic team. Congratulations, Ms. Queen. I'm sure you'll make all of us proud.

Anonymous said...

Much better coverage in NY Times on this. She could be in on the silver or even gold in London.

http://london2012.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/four-years-later-queen-wants-olympic-kayak-spot-that-eluded-her/

Anonymous said...

No UNC goes together with Cheat and Lie.
All the Cam haters need to step off!

Anonymous said...

7:03AM
Stay Classy Heels Fans!