Before many people are even thinking about breakfast, Hannah Paynter is just about ready to shove off for a tough morning on the lake.

“Some mornings, it is kind of tough because it is exhausting and you were like, 'alright, I am still half asleep,'” Paynter said as she and a dozen teammates carried their boats toward the dock on Saratoga Lake. “On a morning like this, it is really exciting because it looks really flat this morning, knock on wood.” 

Paynter grew up in Connecticut and rowed competitively at Yale. Following graduation, she decided to start training at the Saratoga Rowing Association’s (SRA) ARION program for elite rowers.

“It’s kind of like a yearlong, grinding training process,” Paynter said.

“It’s a great group of girls,” said Julia Lonchar, Paynter’s current doubles partner. “I think it is a good, healthy competition and everyone kind of lifts each other up, and I really like that about this group.”

The two women and their teammates all have the same goal: Row well enough to earn a spot on Team USA at this fall’s world championships.

“Obviously, the end goal is to make the national team and represent your country and get to the level where you can compete on the international stage,” Paynter said.

“It would mean a lot for me, at least,” Lonchar said. “It is always a great opportunity to make a senior team, so I think it would be exciting.”

Leading their training for the upcoming trials is Saratoga Rowing Association Director Eric Catalano.

“It is a realistic goal. These guys are pretty close to that level and will be very competitive with the field there,” Catalano said.

Known to his athletes as “Cat,” Catalano has been with the Saratoga Rowing Association for the better part of 20 years.

“Between 11 or so miles in the morning and six or seven in the afternoon, most days. I think I have more miles on this creek than anyone I could imagine,” Catalano said as he steered a small motorboat behind his rowers and delivered instructions through a walkie-talkie.

SRA launched the ARION program five years ago, which has helped make Saratoga’s Fish Creek a training destination for many of the country’s best rowers.

“Rowing is a sport that is constantly trying to perfect one movement,” Catalano said. “The rowing movement, it is just a nonstop search for perfection of that movement.”

There’s no shortage of proof their approach is working.

One of ARION’s first rowers, Kristi Wagner, qualified for the Tokyo Summer Games.

“It is great to see it all work out, especially during this post-pandemic year,” Catalano said. “She was very deliberate in staying on top of her training, which was very difficult for a lot of athletes as they kind of got isolated from each other.”

To her former training partners, Wagner’s success is a constant source of inspiration while they’re grinding on the water.

“I’m excited for her,” Lonchar said. “I kind of have grown up with her a little bit on the elite rowing scene, so I have kind of seen her ups and downs, and so I am really excited for her.”

“It’s amazing to see it pay off for someone and to know that you can trust the process and the process works,” Paynter said following that morning’s exercise.

As if an 11-mile row wasn’t enough, Paynter and a few teammates headed to the weight room the moment their time on the water was done. With a few weeks until the championship trials, her drive toward perfection is relentless.

“Mastering something so complicated is an addicting feeling, so that’s kind of what drives me,” she said.