Pittsburgh is known as a hotbed for many sports -- football, baseball, golf and . . . rowing?

"Rowing around here is humongous. It has exploded." said Joe Setting, coach of the Fox Chapel Area High School girls' crew team.

"Pittsburgh was built for the sport having the river systems we do. A lot of schools just have a lake or a canal. We have awesome rivers. We could row to West Virginia if we wanted to."

Rest assured, Setting is not preparing the Foxes for some grueling marathon training session where his rowers will be going against the current of the Monongahela River. He's just enthused over the success of his team.

For instance, in the decade Fox Chapel has competed in rowing the participation has doubled from 35 to 70 participants and Setting believes his roster will swell to 80 next year.

More than that, however, is how the Foxes have dominated the competition on their seven-event schedule. Along the way they've rowed everywhere from the Allegheny River to the Welland Canal in Welland, Ontario, where they finished at the top of a list of the top rowing teams in Canada and waxed poetic for the cleanliness of The Point's northern most river.

Two of the squads at Fox Chapel could compete for national championships this year. On May 14-15 the Foxes' took the overall team points trophy and girls' points trophy at the Midwest Scholastics Regional tournament on Harsha Lake in Cincinnati. Their competition consisted of 50 teams from five Midwestern states.

"Honestly, that's huge. A Pittsburgh team hasn't won that since North Allegheny (in 2002). They've dominated rowing for years and were always the team we wanted to become," Selling said.

Setting is highest on his lightweight girls' eight-person crew, which won the 1,500-meter event on Harsha Lake with a time of 6 minutes and four seconds. Lightweight rowing consists of participants weighing 130 pounds and under.

In doing so, the females have secured their place in the US Rowing Invitational on Harsha Lake from June 11-12; facing at least a dozen other crews in a 2000 meter event.

Meanwhile, rower David Eng, a junior who Setting said "was built for the sport," and his team and classmate, Steve McCarthy, are petitioning to be included in the doubles competition.

"The U.S. rowing rules state that if you are within a certain time to the winning boat you can submit a petition to be included in the competition," said boys' coach Jay Skuban. Eng and McCarthy were only four seconds behind North Allegheny's winning two-person skull, so Skuban is most confident the petition will be approved on May 27.

Like the male duo, the girls' lightweight eight crew is made up entirely of underclassmen. They are led by coxswain Sarah Obenauer, who commands the eight rowers from the front of the shell.

"Sara calls a race very well. She's very good at making the correct call when it needs to be made.

"It's a split second decision," Selling said. Among her duties is to keep notice of how many strokes per minute her team is accomplishing and when they need to pick up the pace.

The top rowers on this shell, which is different than a skull in that the rowers use one oar instead of two, are captain Christy Connolly and Abby Diety.

Connolly is the only returning starter on the crew and is said to be the leader of the group from the 5 seat (left- or starboard- middle), while Diety is the team's strongest rower in the 8 seat (front portside).