Teen Face: Petaluma rower ‘firing on all cylinders’

Samantha Lamos hoped for a great experience last summer when she was selected as one of 33 high school women to train at a national rowing camp in Connecticut.

Then things got even better. The Petaluma High School senior was chosen as one of eight female rowers to compete in July for the U.S. against Canadian and Mexican teams in the CanAmMex regatta in Nova Scotia. There, Lamos won gold medals in both the four-women and eight-women boat races.

“It was amazing,” said Lamos, who nonetheless added “I was in pain a lot of the time.”

That admission won’t surprise anyone who knows a serious rower. And Lamos is both serious and talented enough to be selected to row at UC Berkeley, where she will attend this fall.

Along with athletic ability, Lamos is “amazingly talented” as a graphic artist, said Petaluma High teacher librarian Connie Williams.

Lamos spent countless hours designing an informational graphic on the value of school libraries for the American Association of School Librarians. The finished product was provided to every member of Congress, Williams said.

She also has designed school dance tickets, the graphic for a prom water bottle and the poster for Saturday’s LumaCON comic gathering for youth in Petaluma.

“She just has an optimistic attitude that is combined with an incredible work ethnic,” Willliams said.

Lamos had played soccer since she was 4 years old. But two years ago, her friend Kelly Galten told her, “Hey, you should come rowing.”

That invitation connected Lamos with Petaluma’s North Bay Rowing Club.

“I went to a practice and I loved it and I’ve been doing it ever since,” she said.

Part of the attraction is making and achieving goals, but she also likes the sense of family that comes in a rowing team.

“You have to be working as one person,” she said.

Rowing has gotten her into the best shape of her life, she said, adding that she considers it “the most difficult sport you’ll participate in.”

The difficulty includes working through the discomfort and weariness that come with hours of workouts.

In such times, she said, “you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Why should I be doing this?’” Her typical reply to such questions include that she doesn’t want to let down her teammates and “I’m strong and I’ll continue to do this.”

At Cal, Lamos plans to major in computer science. She would like to combine graphic design and computer programming that would focus on both the look and customer interactions with web pages.

Will Whalen, the North Bay Rowing Club’s coach, said Lamos combines brains and ability with a desire to improve and a “good understanding of what she’s capable of.”

“She’s kind of one of those kids that’s firing on all cylinders,” he said.

On an eight-person boat there are no superstars, Whalen said. But Lamos is the kind of person you want on your team for her passion and her encouragement of teammates.

“She makes everyone row faster,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit