Wanted: Olympic Medal and A Great Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

February 01, 2012

Elite athletes training for the Olympics think of food as fuel.

Sara Hendershot is no different. The 23 year-old West Simsbury, Conn., native keeps a balanced diet and eats the way her coaches want her to – but there is this one thing about macaroni and cheese.

“I’ve become a bit of a macaroni and cheese connoisseur,” said Hendershot. “I love cooking mac and cheese. It’s my goal to make the best mac and cheese there is. And when I go out to a restaurant, if it’s on the menu I try it. I think the best one I’ve tried was in a restaurant in New York City that had duck in it.

“I do my best to eat healthy, but I have a couple of vices. And mac and cheese is definitely one of them,” she said.

If Hendershot didn’t eat a healthy diet, she would not be having the success she is. In her first year on the senior national team, Hendershot won a gold medal in the women’s four on Lake Bled in Slovenia this past summer.

“I think I had the best first senior team experience I could have had,” she said. “Bled was the most beautiful venue I’ve been to for rowing, totally gorgeous. It was just a fun trip with the team and there was such a great sense of camaraderie. I completely loved rowing the four.

“I fell in love with it the summer before (she won a gold in the four at the 2010 under 23 world championships). I couldn’t have asked for more than a gold medal this summer.”

Today, Hendershot is deep in the mix to earn a seat in one of the women’s national team boats that will compete at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. With such a limited time on the team, Hendershot said she hopes to make the team in any boat she can.

“I’m not completely sure what the summer is going to pan out to look like, but I am in the mix to make a boat that goes to London and to win a medal. Wherever I am the most needed that will help the team is sort of where my goal is.”

SHORT STROKES

Hendershot’s hometown is West Simsbury, Conn.  . . She began rowing at Simsbury High School during her freshman year at the urging of her parents . . . She had played soccer and swam . . .  “I had always been pretty athletic leading up to high school and I didn’t know what I wanted to do in the spring because I had done a few different ones. There wasn’t one sport I was super serious about and my parents convinced me to try rowing because I was not the best with hand-eye coordination.” . . . Hendershot rowed four years for her high school, was invited to USRowing’s junior development camps, and competed on the 2005 CanAmMex team, winning in the eight and the four.  . . She attended Princeton University and graduated with a degree in psychology . . . Besides cooking macaroni and cheese, she enjoys reading . . . “I’m reading the book “Unbroken,” by Laura Hillenbrand, love that book”…when she finishes rowing she hopes to attend business school and focus on some area of sports management.

Click here to view Sara Hendershot's full athlete bio.

Ed Moran

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