Flashback: Former runner Mickelson finds her future on water

Athlete: Anna Mickelson, Newport High School of Bellevue, Class of 1998.

Sport: Cross-country, basketball, track at Newport; crew in college and Olympics.

High-school rewind: Mickelson won 12 varsity letters at Newport. She was on four cross-country teams that went to state and competed in the 1,600 meters at the state track meet all four years.

After high school: Mickelson hadn't rowed before enrolling at Washington, but she was a fast learner. She had intended to walk-on to the UW track team and join brother, Erik, who was a two-time Class 4A 800 champion. Crew coaches persuaded Mickelson that she had a better future on the water. With her runner's endurance and 6-foot frame, she made the Huskies' boat that won the NCAA four-with-coxswain title as a freshman. She then rowed in the varsity eight boat the next three years. The UW eight finished second, first and first at the NCAA championships with her in the boat. She made the national eight-oared shell after her junior season.

The crowning achievement was last summer when Mickelson was on the U.S. eight that won the silver medal at the Olympics in Athens.

Fast forward: Mickelson, 25, works for the UW's Tyee Club but will leave soon for U.S. national-team rowing camp at Princeton. She has been taking sculling (two oars at once) lessons and finished third in a major West Coast solo sculling race a few weeks ago.

By becoming a sculler, she is positioning herself for the 2008 Olympics, where there are multiple events for scullers and sweep (one oar) rowers.

"I want to make sure that come 2008, I am in a position where whichever boat has the best chance of winning a gold medal, I can be in it," she said.

Craig Smith