Hello everyone!
This week has been BUSY! Midterms, a College Outdoors trip, and a regatta in Tacoma, WA. In this post, I want to share a little about my experience at LC as a student-athlete and being a part of the rowing/crew team.
Before coming to LC I knew that I wanted to try rowing since I had some friends who became college rowers in prior years and it seemed like a cool sport. I also read Boys in the Boat the summer before college which inspired me even more to row. 10/10 would recommend you read the book too.
Since Lewis & Clark is a Division 3 school I have found that athletics are very easy to balance with academics, jobs, and other commitments. The process to join the crew team is really easy and free: filling out medical paperwork, taking a concussion baseline test, and showing up to practice. We have practice 6 days a week - Monday through Saturday. Mondays and Thursdays we have 6:20am practcie in the weight room to do strength training. During the school week, we usually don’t have every single person on the team present at practice due to various class conflicts. Night practices consist of taking a van down to the Willamette River, rowing for an hour and a half or so, and then heading back to school and eating as a team in the dining hall.
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| Rigging the boats |
Joining the LC crew team has honestly been one of the best decisions I’ve made. The team is so inviting and supportive. We work hard to push each other to reach new goals and make sure everyone is taking part. The novice team especially is super close which is so cool to be a part of. The varsity rowers are very helpful in guiding and leading the novices. Sometimes we row within our own groups but more often than not, some novice rowers will row in the varsity boats to get more practice and learn more skills. We have just one more week of the fall season and then we won’t be on the water again until the spring season starts. During the past 6 weeks, I have formed new friendships, learned so much, and gotten stronger.
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| Carrying the boat up post-race |
Today we piled into a bus at 5:15am to head up to Tacoma, WA for a regatta (a rowing race) hosted by the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran. On the lake, we were met with strong winds and cold rain. I rowed in both the varsity women’s 8 boat and the novice women’s 8 boat. In the varsity boat we did a 4k race and in the novice boat we did two 2k races pretty much back-to-back. This was my first real race of the year. It was really fun to have a lot of other boats to race against and put everything I’ve been learning for the past 6 weeks to use. All crews did a really good job today in the less than pleasant conditions. We came in 3rd place in the women’s varsity 8 4k race and we came in 2nd place in both heats of the women’s novice 2k.
Next weekend we have our last race with the whole team called the “Orange & Black”. Essentially, the team has been split up into an orange and a black team and we race against each other for fun and time. Then on Sunday, the varsity crews will head up to Seattle for the Head of the Lake Regatta.
Also: I hope you enjoyed the title of the blog post - Instead of “Roll Pios” it’s “Row Pios” because rowing ya know? :)
Have a wonderful day!
Sarah