Community Corner

Roxborough's Glenn Ochal, Team USA Row to Semifinals

Roman Catholic grad advances in mens 4 rowing.

Comfortably competing in front of Windsor Castle in England, Roxborough's Glenn Ochal and the men's 4 rowing team advanced to the semifinals Monday at the London 2012 Olympics.

Ochal, a , helped row the American team to a first-place finish in the third heat of qualifying—besting the Netherlands, Greece and Italy, in that order.

The event took place early Monday, but wasn't broadcast in Philadelphia until 10:30 a.m. on NBC 10. Announcers highlighted Ochal's Philadelphia origins and his collegiate career at Princeton.

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Ochal, 25, began rowing at Roman in 2001 and graduated from Princeton in 2008.

Although three of the four teams in the heat Monday advanced to the semifinals, Team USA—which also includes Scott Gault, Charles Cole, and Henrik Rummel—led for the race's entirety and finished with a time of 5:54:88.

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On Tuesday, teams who failed to qualify in heats will compete for spots in the semifinal. Team USA finished with the 10th best time in three heats, finishing worse than some teams in other races who didn't qualify. 

Australia (5:47.06), Germany (5:49.84) and Great Britain (5:50.27) posted the top times.

The semifinals are scheduled for 5:10 a.m. Thursday.


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