Montclair Magazine Spring 2017 | Page 45

JEREMY MICHALITSIANOS,
JEREMY MICHALITSIANOS,
BROKER AT ICAP SERVICES / ROWER AND COACH
FATHER TO SON:“ My dad rowed for Greece before coming to England to study. When Iwas 13, he took me down to the river in northeast London to be acoxswain. Irowed atthe Lea Rowing Club in northeast London every dayafter school. My wife, Lorna, and Imet at the rowing club when she was 12.”
SETTING, AND ACHIEVING, GOALS:“ I trained super HENLEY REGATTA, 1995 hard, was recruited onto the British Under-19 team, and raced at the world championships. Iwas amember of Great Britain’ s national team from 1986 to 1992, and rowed in three more world championships; as part of the Under-23 team, I won a bronze medal. In’ 95, my boat from the Lea Rowing Club won a cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. And my boatinthe 50s CoxedFourevent wonthe Head of the Charles in Boston last year, with MHS grad Julia McGhee as cox. It gave legitimacy to me saying‘ I was good once.’”
COACHING AT MHS: Lorna – who also made the British national team – and I took over in’ 09. Sincethen, Montclair High boats have won 13 times at Philadelphia’ s Stotesbury Cup, the biggest school regatta in the world. Justin Murphy and Nate Goodman, MHS’ 13, were selected to compete at two Under-19 world championships, and I coached both events.”
WHO CREWS:“ The joke is that you’ re a good athlete, but not good at other sports. Then you get out on the water, and you see quite rapid improvements. That steep learning curve attracts people.”
HENLEY: SPORTSGRAPHICS; MICHALITSIANOS: ANNE-MARIE CARUSO; BARBER SISTERS COURTESY JEFF COHEN; USATF PHOTOS: USATF / IMAGE OF SPORT
ALL IN ADAY’ S WORKOUT Me’ Lisa and Mikele Barber
ME’ LISA AND MIKELE
BARBER, WORLD CHAMPION / PROFESSIONAL SPRINTERS
ME’ LISA:“ Wegrewupinthe SouthEnd with a lot of kids on our block, and we’ d race up and down the street. When we got to MHS, our parents wanted us to stay occupied after school. We joined thehiking club, but it wasn’ t our thing. Then we started running track with Coaches Spivey and Ellis. We stuck with it, and started beating the seniors.”
MIKI:“ Wewere the Number One and Two recruits in the US, and received full scholarships to the University of South Carolina. I was the co-captain of the women’ s track and field team when we won the first NCAA championship for our school. I made the Olympic team my sophomore year, but foot surgeries forced me to taketwo years off.”
ME’ LISA:“ I’ m a 17-time NCAA champ. I became the world and US champ, winning gold medals in’ 01,’ 03 and’ 05..”
MIKI:“ We’ ve been pros since we graduated. I was with Nike for seven years. You need to learn to negotiate your appearance fees, and be your own agent. Today, we’ re personal trainers, and our business is called Body Code.”
ME’ LISA:“ We both live in LA now, and still train. I do warm-up exercises and stretch, then go to the weight room for two hours. I like to get it done early so Ican work on my jewelry line. I’ m making Olympic Team bracelets for 165 athletes.”
MIKI:“ I like setting a goal to be better. You never perfect anything.” ■
Miki( above) and Me’ Lisa( below) race at the 2009 USATF Indoor Champsionships
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE SPRING 2017
43