The way Hannah Malvin put it, the story about how she got into the sport of rowing -- and ultimately became one of the best in the country at it -- is "not a totally interesting" one.

A Squirrel Hill native and 2006 Allderdice High School graduate, Malvin has gone from going out for the Dragons' rowing team on a whim to becoming a two-time NCAA Division I All-American and U.S. Olympic team hopeful.

"I just had heard about the team and decided to try it out," Malvin recalled of her fateful decision eight years ago. "I liked the group of people."

And how did she end up becoming so enthralled with it that she put in the work to be proficient at it?

"I'm not sure exactly... As I improved, it ended up being a lot of fun and I loved it."

Did she ever dream when she first climbed into the boat as a high school freshman that rowing would become such a fixture in her life?

"No, I didn't. Never.

"It's been a huge part of my life and I love it."

Malvin was speaking by phone Monday from Princeton, N.J., not long after completing her first early morning practice with the U.S. National Team in the waters of Lake Carnegie.

"It's still hitting me, that this is all going on," Malvin said. "I'm so excited to be here, though."

Malvin has already had some international competition experience this summer, having earned a gold medal rowing in the No. 2 seat of the women's fours at the under-23 World Championships in Brest, Belarus.

Malvin will turn 23 before next summer, so she is no longer eligible to compete in that age group. Now she is training with the country's best at the "senior" level, which is the pool from which the U.S. sends its teams to the Olympics, world championships, World Cup and other international competitions.

"It's been very interesting to meet and train with people I've been competing against for so long," Malvin said. "It's very cool to get to know them and find out that they're a bunch of cool people. Our boats did really well at worlds. I have a lot of respect for them. It's been great to get to know them."

Malvin recently graduated from Brown University. She was part of Bears teams that won NCAA titles her freshman and sophomore seasons and placed fifth the past two years. She earned All-American honors.

"I absolutely loved it at Brown," Malvin said. "Loved it. It was an awesome group that was so fun to go down and work hard with everyday to be our best. It's an awesome group with great coaching. It was such an exciting thing to be a part of."

It's safe to say that representing her country in international competitions -- including, if things fall her way, perhaps at the 2012 Olympic Games in London -- is even more of a thrill.

The United States, for example, won three medals in rowing at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"Team USA has done very well traditionally," Malvin said. "I feel really lucky to be in a sport and in a country where we are so competitive."

To get to the level to be a part of that will still take plenty of work. Training, essentially, is a full-time job for Malvin for the time being. Practices start at dawn and the team will work out as often as three times per day.

Malvin graduated with a political science degree from an Ivy League school and has aspirations to move to Washington, D.C., to begin a career in politics, maybe after grad school.

But that was all put on hold when she got invited to train with the national team.

"I want to make sure I see how far I can go with this," Malvin said. "I'll go as far as I can go, so when I got the invite, I was real excited because I knew I would get to continue."

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