Faith makes a national champion

<p>Faith and perseverance have made Casa Grande High School graduate Jarrod McClendon a national collegiate champion.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>By JOHN JACKSON</p><p>ARGUS-COURIER STAFF WRITER</p><p>Faith and perseverance have made Casa Grande High School graduate Jarrod McClendon a national collegiate champion.</p><p>McClendon, 22, was the lone senior in the varsity 4 boat that defeated rowing powerhouse Washington in the International Rowing Association Regatta, held on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. </p><p>To earn a seat in the championship boat, McClendon, had to overcome coaching changes, a relatively small size for a collegiate rower and two ruptured disks in his back that kept him out of competition and all training except riding a stationary bike for about four months.</p><p>“There are few things in life you can’t overcome with hard work and humor,” he said, offering an insight into his outlook on sports and life.</p><p>McClendon’s father, Ray McClendon, is the minister at Sonoma Mountain Parkway Church of Christ, and the son shares his parents’ strong faith.</p><p>“God is in control, and I just do my part,” he explained.</p><p>McClendon’s part included working hard to come back from his injury and not getting discouraged even as he failed to make the varsity boat until his senior year. </p><p>That senior year’s rowing fulfilled his dream. </p><p>“I stuck with it because I really wanted to win a national championship,” he said. “I had to give it my best shot.”</p><p>After the race, won by Cal in 6:32.64, almost two seconds ahead of Washington, Cal head coach Mike Teti praised the entire team, and especially McClendon.</p><p>“It was a great event for them,” the coach said. “When you get to the end of the season, you really feel it for the seniors on the team. To see Jarrod McClendon go out on top, when he’s had injuries all year, to see him go out as he did and go out a winner is great. It’s really gratifying.”</p><p>McClendon’s rowing roots stretch back to Petaluma’s North Bay Rowing Club, based at the Foundry Wharf on the Petaluma River.</p><p>He was raised in what he calls “the high desert country,” moving with his family to Petaluma when he was 13.</p><p>It was his good friend, Kelly Hughes, who encouraged him to give rowing a try.</p><p>“I owe a lot to him,” McClendon says. “He got me into rowing, He helped get me into Berkeley. He even introduced me to my girlfriend.”</p><p>When he was a senior in high school, McClendon joined the nationally recognized Marin Rowing Club and coach Jim Anderson helped the teenage rower get recruited by the University of California.</p><p>McClendon received what he calls “a small scholarship,” to row for the Bears. “It wasn’t a lot, but it helped. The main thing was the school admission. It got me into Berkeley.”</p><p>In return, Cal’s crew team received a dedicated and motivated rower, who persisted through adversity to lead it to a national championship.</p><p>McClendon said it wasn’t any one thing that led to his painful back injury, but was the cumulative effects of doing what he loves.</p><p>He explained that he always rowed on the same side of the boat (called sweeping) and over the years the strain took its toll, causing three disks to come out of place. He required two epidermal injections and extensive rehabilitation to get back into the boat, but he is forever glad he was able to return.</p><p>“I can’t really explain the feeling after we won,” he said. “There is a picture that was taken right after we won, and that says it all. I can’t explain it in words.”</p><p>He has worked during the summer for a contractor, doing house painting, but his future is in law enforcement, and he has already applied to three different police departments.</p><p>McClendon is son of Ray and Linda McClendon. He is the youngest of five successful children, but he is the only one to have won a national championship.</p><p>(Contact John Jackson at acsports@arguscourier.com)</p><p>Credit for the photo appearing with this story and in the July 23 edition of the Petaluma Argus-Courier was omitted. The photo should be credited to www.row2k.com.</p>