It's not every day you hear of someone from Clearville, a small town in Bedford County south of Everett, making the United States Olympic team as a rower.

But Natalie Dell is defying the odds.

"I can tell you I am ready to go," she told 6 Sports. "This is four years in the making. I'm ready to get on that plane [to London]."

Dell earned a spot on Team USA at the U.S. Olympic Rowing Trials in June. She has been a starting member of the United States women's national quadruple sculls boat since 2010. However, making the Olympic team is the biggest accomplishment in the sport.

"The best way I can describe being named to the Olympic team is that it's a very sacred thing," Dell said. "I called my parents and that was probably the happiest moment of my life was telling my parents I made it."

Dell only started rowing eight years ago. A 2003 graduate of Everett High School, Dell didn't have the luxury of a rowing program growing up. Instead, she was a state medalist in track and field. When she went to Penn State, she decided to try and walk-on to the Nittany Lions club team. In her second semester in 2004, she started rowing for the first time.

"I didnt really like it at first," she said. "It was so hard and it was such a challenge and that's why I kept coming back. I fell in love with the sport because it was so very frustrating and it still is quite a challenge even at this level."

In London, Dell will be expected in the rowing community to help bring home a medal. The U.S. women's quadruple sculls team finished 2nd in the 2011 World Championships, the highest finish ever for a women's quad sculls group.

"The four of us are ready to compete," Dell told 6 Sports. "Not just for ourselves and for our country but for the women we trained aside with for many years."