Women's Team Rankings

The plan was to post this on Wednesday for Women's Team Wednesday but the information hadn't been officially posted yet so here it is on a Thursday. 

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing" -Adrian Spracklen
This quote has been the goal of the season since winter training, and even once I understood what it meant, it wasn't until this week that I was able to grasp why we were repeated told this. It was because having the focus and dedication that we've been able to have all season and the repeated hard work and sacrifice truly does have a pay off in the end. 

9:05 PM on a this Tuesday night, the women's team received a text message from Coach Adrian Spracklen....

Hearing the news that Mercyhurst had moved up to third was one of the highlights of the season so far, not just for myself but for the entire team. We kept telling each other that the current D2 standings weren't accurate in regards to us being fourth and that we were ready to put the work in and prove everyone wrong. "This is going to be our year" has been another phrase said around practice this season and moving up from our #4 spot proves that this team is ready to do what it takes to win it all. 

Third is an amazing accomplishment, but it still isn't were we want to be for this season. While the goal is to make it onto the podium at NCAA Championships in Sacramento this year, it's a gold medal that is really pushing all of us. As a team, the goal is to continue to work hard and continue keeping the main thing our main thing and get ready to battle it out in California.

Throwback Thursday

This week I am throwing it back to the Fall of 2013.

This is a photo from my third ever collegiate race. It was such a great feeling when coach told the team we would be racing in Virginia that fall. I had only been at school for a month or so and I was already notifying my family that I would be coming home for a race in a few weeks, let me tell you, they were excited! The course were we raced at, the Occoquan River, was my home course all throughout high school and I won three State Championships on that river. The race we raced in, The Head of the Occoquan was also a race I won many times during high school so I felt as if I had the home court advantage coming down that race course a year and a half ago. (Not to mention it was a beautiful day)

MACRA Championships

This weekend we raced is Ypsilanti, Michigan in the MACRA Championships and for the women's team, this is was our last time on a 2,000m buoyed course until the Dad Vail Regatta in two weeks. The weather was dreary but the rain held out thankfully and the wind stayed minimal. And if you're a seasoned rower you know that a regatta, races rarely run on time, and sometimes you have to wait behind the starting blocks for upwards of 20 minutes. This past weekend, races reached a delay of an 1.5 hours and the slow process up at the start had some boats waiting 40 minutes up by the start.

Despite the delays, the women's team was able to race and all boats advanced to either the grand or petite finals. The Mercyhurst women were able to take home two medals this past weekend and are ready to compete for more as the season starts to come to a close. You can read more about this weekend by clicking here.

Women's 8+ : Second in Grand Finals
Women's 4+ A : First in Grand Finals
Women's 4+ B : Second in Petite Finals
Women's Frosh/Novice 4+ : Sixth in Grand Finals


Want to find out more about upcoming regattas or results from past regattas? Check out RegattaCentral for all the information.

Men's Team Monday

Name: Doug Riethmuller

Class: Senior

Years Rowing: 4

Degree of Study: BS Anthropology/ Archaeology

Concentration/Minor: Archaeology (Concentration) Geology (Minor)

Position: 3 Seat/LWT 8

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Fun Fact: My eyes are each two colors.

1) Describe your coming about with the sport of rowing, what made you decide to start rowing?

"In order to explain why I started rowing at Mercyhurst I need to take you back to junior year of High school.  I decided that year to become involved in some athletic pursuit, and the options that were available were Rowing or Ultimate (Frisbee). These were club sports at school, and were both very welcoming to new faces.  I decided to give Ultimate a try, ultimately (pun intended) because it was cheaper and most of my friends were on the team. So I played until I graduated, had a lot of fun and started to foster a self-competitive attitude. Once here at Mercyhurst, I saw the flyers for a rowing informational meeting, and decided that I’d give it a whirl and see how I enjoyed it.  After starting to get the hang of it my freshman year, and starting to see success, I was hooked.  The upperclassman and my fellow freshman all were very welcoming and provided a great environment that I wanted to stay involved with."

2) What ultimately brought you to Mercyhurst?

"The strength of the Archaeology department, hands down.  Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute (MAI) has worked on some very high profile and well known sites, been involved with really neat artifacts, and has some professors that literally wrote the book in their respective fields. This coupled with the small liberal arts college feel, and the convenient distance from home (not too far, not too close) made it a very good choice.  It was actually the only school I applied to."

3) After rowing all four years here at Mercyhurst, what has rowing taught you? 

"It taught me discipline both physical, as well as mental. It has fostered time management and the ability to put aside differences for a greater good. I have learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of. Had I not rowed, I really do not know how different my life would be right now, however I couldn't imagine college without it."

4) Can you talk about one of your most memorable moments with the team?

"I really couldn't isolate one experience. The entire process of learning to row to competing, and the intense training in between has been an experience that I doubt I will ever truly forget."

5) You graduate in a little over three weeks from now, where do you see your life taking you next?

"Right after graduation I’ll be working with a company called SWCA, and environmental consulting agency, and I will be doing archaeological field work.  This consists of examining/testing the ground ahead of any building projects that may disturb sites of archaeological importance. If the project will impact these sites, we will be responsible for mitigating any damage by excavating them.  I plan on doing that sort of work for the near future, then potentially back to grad school probably for an advanced archaeology degree."

6) As one of five graduating seniors from the Men's Rowing team, what is the biggest take-away message to the underclassmen?

"To always keep the primary reason that you row at the forefront of your mind, during the great days and the bad."

"Also tip your waiters and waitresses."

Fun Fact Friday

Sticking to the trend of being late this week, I missed "Throwback Thursday" so I bring you: "Fun Fact Friday!"

Fun Fact: The Men's Rowing Team at Mercyhurst has transitioned into an entirely Lightweight Program over the past few years. 

This means that all of the guys have to weigh in under 160lbs on race day. The part that makes it even more interesting is that most of the races require each boat to have an average weight of 155lbs. This means that while the guys have to be under 160lbs, many of the guys have to be even lighter in order to bring the boat average down to 155lbs. I have seen some of the guys cut weight in the most ridiculous ways while at college and it only goes to show how much of a commitment this is to them. One of the most eye opening things when I came here was sitting in the dining hall after practices and watching how much thought the guys put into what they are eating. It comes down to a science for most of them, and this sport engulfs every aspect of their life; on and off the water. 

Women's Team: Mairead Manke

Mairead Manke
Biology Major
Senior
Varisity 4+

This is a little delayed but fits that I'm not doing this on a Wednesday since this rower isn't just my #wcw but my #wce. Her witty personality shines through off the water and the moment you put her in a boat, she has focus like no other rower and will do whatever it takes to push herself and win. I introduce to you all the sassy senior, Maired Manke.

Tell me, how did you get into rowing?
Oh lordy, okay so it was the second day of school and I was still getting acquainted with everything and went down the hall to hang out with some friends my roommate had met. Later on, one of them said they were leaving to go to a meeting and I said I would go with her. It turned out to be the rowing meeting for the novices and Jamie and Adrian were there and they just talked about it and I just kind of put my email down and started coming to practice...and I never quit. I must have a real sadistic personality but it was good, it helped me meet a lot of my friends and create new outlets in college. 

What was it like when you first got in a boat?
Well it was an old pocock and it had these clog shoes and I was thinking, "Good god this is gross, I hope we don't go in. I don't know what I'm doing" pretty much. I remember the first couple practices we didn't even get off the dock, we just sat in the boat and hung out on the docks because that was al we could do.

What was the reason that made you stick with rowing for these past four years?
Well I have a really competitive sports personality. I'm not competitive with board games and that stuff but with sports it's like I have to good and something and then I stick with it. Rowing was really different from any of the other sports I had played before, I was previously involved in hockey and softball which are more of contact sports and require certain skill sets. While rowing on the other hand is kind of like a free for all, you can be anybody and you can figure it out. It was really cool being able to adapt and be good at a  spot that I had just started, I wouldn't have been able to do that with any other sport.

Why did you decide to be a rower instead of a coxswain? 
(For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mairead, she stands just over 5'4" and is a lightweight)
As soon as a I learned what a coxswain was and what they did, I  made sure to not become one. It's not that they sit back and don't do anything but they sit back and they steer and I'm not about that. I have to be in the action, so there was no way that was happening.

Just briefly describe the journey of going from sitting on a dock because that was all you could do, to racing down the finals at NCAA all in one year.
Well freshman year in particular was torturous, it was the hardest physical exertion period of time in my entire life. I've never been more exhausted and sore. And we had sort of a smaller team way back when and there were only 13 or 14 of us that were even eligible to row. I was able to squeak my way into the four and I remember at the time we had  really competitive eight and a freshman four and we made it work. We got to go to NCAAs so we didn't mess it up that bad and Kristine and Leyla who were also in the four are still hanging around. 

Sitting here now, what is it like on your way to your last NCAAs?
Ugh, well it's really exciting because the group of people we are going with are an exceptional group of people. They are really good at rowing first and foremost, and we always talk about team chemistry and how it's really important for speed in the boats and this year it seems like we seem to be clicking even though we're all from different corners of the world. And then, Sacramento. I mean come on it's going to be really fun and I think it's going to be a really good course since Indianapolis was always windy and was had to get a good row in at times so I think this course will be a really good test of our true speed.

And how have you had to adapt by being tinier than everyone else?
Oh sweet mama jamba, well... I have to try and eat more than I want to because caloric intake is really important for me to maintain the little weight that I have and we have a really rigorous training so it's hard to keep that weight on. I know that I'm never going to be big though, so instead of worrying about it I just know that I have to be the best the way that I am. I've been trying to optimize my length, that's been a huge thing I've been working on the past three and a half years and I think I've finally gotten to a point where it's really good. So with that it doesn't matter that my legs are rally short because I row the same length and the fact that I weight 20-30 pounds less than people is just an advantage for me because I don't bog anything down. 

Would you say that rowing has changed you in any way?
Yeah, I thought I knew what blisters were before I started rowing and now I really know what blisters are. But yeah, it's taught me a lot about my mental limitations and being able to get past them. It's taught me about my physical limitations and how to exceed them through training. It's also taught me incredible things about her people and how to deal with the differences between you and how to incorporate different personalities into a competitive situations. I would say it's brought primarily positive things, aside from the sore butt and hurting hamstrings.

Last question, you know that's all going online right?
You're not going to transcribe everything... Oh that's awful, this is just twelve minutes of shenanigans.

Mairead and Taylor showing that Women's V8+ beat Barry by 2 seconds in the heats at Knecht Cup

A big thanks to Mairead for letting me interview you, and for making me laugh multiple times throughout it! 

Throwback Thursday

I apologize for the delay on the Women's Team Wednesday, my bow seat is a busy gal but her story on how she went from a novice to the finals at NCAAs is on its way! Never fear though, Throwback Thursday is here :)

I'm throwing it back to this week actually, because we have had some pretty bad weather at Findley Lake and yes, yes there has been snow in late April....
Don't believe me? Check on this picture our coaches snapped as we were heading out to row in the tundra.

We managed to have one or two days this week without a snowy surprise and I was able to capture it on video and thought I would share it for this week's throwback. I was able to get some video of this year's promising Frosh 8+ as they prepare for our race this weekend in Michigan and you can hear the wise words on Coach Adrian
Spracklen in the background as he helps them fine tune their rowing. 

Men's Team Monday

Name: Blaze Kelly

Class: Junior

Years Rowing: 9

Degree of Study: B.S. Sports Medicine; Minor in Biology

Concentration: Pre-medicine

Position: Bow Seat LWT 4+

Hometown: New Milford, CT

Fun Fact: Dobro Jutro

1) How did you first get into rowing? 

"Before we begin, is this for the record?"

Me: "Yes"

"Ok lets begin."

"I have an older cousin who rowed throughout high school for Miami Beach Rowing Club and was offered a full-ride to row at University of Florida. A few years later, around 2006, I saw a poster for a rowing club in my town in Connecticut, so I decided to sign up. When I signed up I was pretty short and so it was suggested I become a coxswain. After a few months, about the same time they realized I wasn't the best coxswain, I grew (a bit) so I was put in a boat. The first time I rowed I was bow in a quad with three other older guys in the program, it wasn't pretty. I was basically chasing them up the slide, putting my oars in and letting the water pull them to the finish, [Laughter] when I got off the water I thought to myself, I can't imagine they are going to let me do this again. Eventually, I got a better feel for it and really focused on perfecting my technique, as my coach at the time said it was the most important thing I could work on. After a rough season, or two, or three, I started to work hard and went to a few national championships and got a taste of success... Now Im gearing up for my third Dad Vail Championship."

2) What brought you to Mercyhurst?

"It wasn't an immediate decision, Mercyhurst was always in the back of my mind, but I was talking to a handful of other schools as well. While I was in highschool, three guys from my club were all recruited to row at Mercyhurst and they were rowing at Mercyhurst. All three of them won Dad Vails and it looked pretty awesome. I didn't even know what Dad Vails was, I definitely didn't know who Mr. Vail was or his Dad, but I wanted to win one. The guys told me about the program and only had good things to say, so they pretty much sold me. Overall, it was basically a combination of the programs winning reputation and the guys who I knew who rowed here that made me decide on Mercyhurst."



3) What is your favorite part about rowing?

"My favorite part about rowing is winning, not to be shallow, but I'm a goal oriented person and winning is a tangible product of hard work. After a few seasons of being dead last in races (PBL), I eventually got a taste for winning and I was hooked. Going off that, the other thing that is up there would be when you get a crew that has really good chemistry and a really good feel for the boat and you are able to row relaxed and have finesse, yet be explosive and powerful at the same time, thats really the feeling I'm after in every boat I row in."

3.5) Favorite part about Mercyhurst?
Germans. (Jonas Weller)

4) What has been your hardest day at Mercyhurst?

"To start, the only easy day was yesterday. There have been more hard days than I can count, but that comes along with the sport. It's not an easy sport so you're going to have hard days, but that makes it even more rewarding. A challenge for me is trying to balance my schoolwork, sleep, and rowing. Sometimes my schoolwork cuts into my sleep which cuts into my rowing. I've learned the hard way, it is not easy getting up at 4:50 if you were up late working on something the night before.

5) What is your outlook on practice?

"I basically look at practice as my job. The coaches or coxswains give us the workout, so we know what we have to do, and it is our responsibility to get the job done. This is the same outlook I had in high school. My coach G-man, would tell us what to do (the workouts, the training, etc.) and I would do it exactly as he said to. I carried that over when I came here to Adrian's coaching. I'm confident that Adrian and Jamie know what is best, and have much more experience behind them. I'm always appreciative of the advice they have to offer."

6) What is the biggest take-away from rowing at Mercyhurst?

"I think the biggest take away would be the camaraderie between the guys on the team. I wasn't used to this before coming here, because there were only a handful of guys at my club back home, and here we have around 30 guys and 1 girl....and we are all really close."

7) What are your plans with rowing after you graduate?

"I've been rowing for nine years, next year will be my tenth year. I plan on using my last year here as motivation for me to finish my colligate career strong. Although in the future, down the road, I see myself rowing. My sights after graduation are set on Medical School; that is my number one priority. The best way I can describe continuing rowing at the caliber I do now, is by the following Steve Redgrave quote, "Anyone who sees me in a boat has my permission to shoot me."Although I'm 20 years, four olympic golds, and 10 inches short of Redgrave, what I'm trying to say is; I try to give everything I've got right now on a daily basis and that doesn't come at an easy price."


8) Can you talk a little bit about what it is like living with a Serbian? 

"I would say living with a Serbian is basically like living with any other college roommate one would encounter. During the middle of the night you might wake up to cursing in another language, sometimes the apartment smells like traditional Eastern European food, and I learned how to say good morning in Serbian; Dobro Jutro (Or at least I think that's what it means)."

Throwback To Ergs

(There were some problems posting this on Thursday so here's a Throwback Sunday!)

I decided to bring it back to to J-term, which is a three week period during our six week winter break where Mercyhurst students can come back to campus and take a class. It's one class a day, three hours a day, for three weeks and really helps to get a class out of the way. 

The rowers all come back for J-term so we can then take one less class during the hectic spring semester and to officially kick off winter training. 

We practiced twice a day, cross-training/lift in the morning and erging in the afternoon, and questioned our sanity approximately twice a week. J-term may have been hard at times but it brought the team closer together and got us one step closer to Alabama!

For the women's team we made a banner that we all signed that read "We Row For Cali" to remind us the every painful erg piece was all working towards a greater goal: NCAAs in Sacramento. We also figured out that Sacramento is about 4 million meters from Erie and decided that we were literally going to "row to Cali" and row 4 million meters as a team over winter training. 

Here's a photo of our assistant coach Jamie Francis showing off the meters rowed in January, such a proud coach!

Picture of the Day

The world famous rowing website "Row2k.com" is a rowers hub for pictures, results, blogs, polls, and anything rowing related. Thousands of rowers use this website daily to stay in-tune with the rowing world news. Nearly and photo and any result form any race can be found in the pages of archives dating back to 1997!

One of the neat features on the home page of 'Row2k' is the Photo/Video of the day. Our very own Alexandra Kleckner, on the Mercyhurst Women's Rowing team, submitted a picture of the sunrise at Presque Isle here in Erie, Pa where you can find the Mercyhurst Rowing team rowing in the early hours of the morning (that is if you are awake at 5A.M.). It is always exciting when Mercyhurst receives national and sometime global attention in the rowing community!

Here is the photo:

"A Mercyhurst Morning"

Women's Team Wednesday

Margaret Kneuer 
Freshman
Psychology Major
Coxswain for the Varsity 8+
Fun Fact: her sister is also a coxswain (for Michigan State)

How did you start coxing?

I started coxing the summer going into my eighth grade, I was on learn to row and I wanted to be a rower and the novice coach pulled me aside and said, “You’re not allowed to carry a boat, you’re too tiny  - so you’re going to be a coxswain”.

What were your reasons to want to cox in college?

It’s my passion and I had fallen in love with the sport in middle school and it continued into high school and now I can’t imagine my life without crew.

So what made you choose Mercyhurst?

Adrian. To begin my search I wanted a balance between academics and athletics and Mercyhurst being division II made it out to be the best fit. As soon as I met the team and got to understand their rowing philosophy and they team organization I know it was perfect. 

What was it like for you to go from the high school to collegiate level?

I think the transition was subtle because I couldn’t pinpoint the differences, you have the experience but you’re still also rowing and learning and you have to learn brand new ways of rowing.  Luckily in high school I had four different coaches so I was used to the different rowing styles so I was able to be very adaptable in that sense.

I think the difference is mainly that it is very competitive and every single person in college rowing is there to compete. Not to say that high school isn’t, but the team as a whole is more professional and more competitive. You’re now training very hard and every single person is putting everything they have into it. 

Tell me about your season so far…

I think the season is going better than I imagined it going at this point. We’re very competitive, we’re off to a strong start and winning. It’s very obvious that the winter training has paid off. It was very hard and stressful but we are now seeing the results and we’re getting faster. Every day we’re getting faster and are getting more in unison with each other and we’re growing and I’m ready to race - I’m ready to continue to race. 

Let’s talk about the rankings right now for Mercyhurst. It’s going around the team that they seem inaccurate, would you agree with that?

YES. Absolutely! I’ve been looking at them and I understand that Nova has higher numbers than us and maybe i’m confused with the ranking system… they did get points subtracted but it’s a little different to see that they are still ranked above us even though we beat them with open water. I want to learn the system a little better but I do think that we’re ready to prove them wrong.

After graduating from Mercyhurst, where do you see yourself in the rowing world?

Coaching. The goal is to be a coxswain coach but I would at least like to be some kind of varsity coach. Having that as a side job alongside psychology would be ideal. And hopefully someday I’ll be able to encourage my children to try rowing and potentially find the same passion I have for the sport.  

Men's Team Monday

Name: Steven Chica
Hometown: Miami, FL
Class: Freshman
Position: Bow-Seat (four/eight)
Fun Fact: "My middle name is Hustle"

How did you discover rowing and when did you take your first stroke? 

"I was first introduced to sport rowing when my mom, who ran a summer camp for blind kids, took all of the kids to try rowing. I was helping her out with the camp so my first time in a boat was when I went with the camp to help the kids. That was in 8th grade, it wasn't until my Junior year when I official started rowing. There was a kid in my class who rowed for MRC (Miami Rowing Club) and I actually scrolled across a picture he posted on Facebook of him rowing and right away I told myself I wanted to try it. Going into the fall of Junior year, I had my parents sign me up for MRC and I started stroking the novice four right away. The guys in my boat and I picked up the sport really quickly so we were able to compete with the Varsity guys within two months of taking our first stroke. After stroking all fall, I moved up to the stroke seat of the second varsity 8 by the spring, and soon enough I was stroking the Junior 8 to a Florida State Championship."

Being a visual impaired athlete all of your life, what makes rowing so special and different than all of the other sports you have tried. 

"Rowing is a sport of feel and rhythm. All of the other sports require vision and coordination; rowing requires a special touch and feel that you don't necessarily need your eyes for. It is almost better not being able to see as much, so I can focus all of my attention on feel and sound. Rowing is a lot like dancing, you have to be very fluid with every movement. You must have perfect rhythm to be able to move a boat just like being able to dance. Finally, you have to know you're every move; you always have to know what is going to happen next, before it happens. In dancing, you will step on someones feet if you are out of synch; in rowing, you will slow the boat down if you are out of synch."

"Being visually impaired actually allows me to be in my comfort zone. Especially since the sport of rowing requires a lot of early morning rows before the sun comes up, I feel more in-tune with myself and the boat. I would describe the early morning rows before the sun comes up as comfortable. I don't have to worry about my vision because it's not there. When it is pitch black, my other senses are enhanced, so I end up hearing the most amazing sounds in the morning as the boat runs along the surface and the blades catch against the water."

What was it like growing up in Miami?

"Growing up in Miami was quite an experience. I was taught Spanish at an early age because my Cuban Grandparents did not speak english. Growing up, my parents used english to communicate with my siblings and I, but used Spanish to talk to their parents. In Miami you don't go a day without using both Spanish and English to communicate to people, so it was definitely a cool culture to grow up in. It took me a while to realize how great the environment is in Miami, especially now, knowing that some people have never seen the ocean, and I grew up living on it. Spending time fishing and always being on the water my whole life has made me who I am, and it is definitely why I love rowing so much. In rowing, you are one with the water and that is why I am who I am."

As high school was finishing up, what made you decide to continue rowing in college. More importantly, what made you decide Mercyhurst was the place to pursue your rowing and academics.

"My Junior year, Coach Jamie Francis (Mercyhurst Rowing Assistant Coach) came to talk to my club in January, right about the time I started rowing. Coach Jamie talked about what it was like to be a student athlete in college and what college rowing is all about. I instantly loved everything about Jamie and the way he talked about the sport."

"I am a very competitive person in every aspect, and I am always pushing myself to be better. I thought what better way to continue to get better at what I love than to continue rowing in college."

"The decision came down to Mercyhurst and UCSD, only because I wanted to row all year long, and they can do that in San Diego. I couldn't over look Jamie's character and the way he recruited me. He told me he read a story about me and my impaired vision in the paper and he went on to tell me that my disability would have nothing to do with how he would treat me as a prospective athlete or as an athlete if I were to come here. The whole situation reflected on the culture of the this team and the brotherhood I was about to join; based on all of that, I didn't think twice before choosing Mercyhurst."

What are some of your goals both as an athlete and a student moving forward?

"As a student, my goals are to get my degree in Athletic Training and pass the BOC exam. I want to continue to learn and become a better athletic trainer everyday by continuing to develop my skills in muscle-skeletal injuries."

"As an athlete, my goals are to continue to explore my limit and push it further and further. I want to break down every physical and emotional barrier in my way and develop myself into the best rower and teammate I can be."

"After college I want to continue rowing and hopefully be a part of the Paralympic team. Someday I hope to win a Paralympic Gold Medal and then move onto coaching."

Throwback Thursday

This week we throw it back to Spring Training 2014!

In previous years, the Mercyhurst Rowing team has travelled to Lake Lanier, Georgia to kick off the spring season with warmer temperatures and open water.

Last year, marked a new chapter in Mercyhurst Rowing as we tested the waters of Alabama for our Spring Training trip. Everyone on the team gives up their spring break to train with the team three times a day for ten days. It was exciting to be a part of the first team to train in Alabama for Mercyhurst and we had one hell of a week.

(After being on the bus for 14 hours, the excitement to be 'Bama was pretty obvious) 

Rae Pollock: Women's Team Wed.

Rae Pollock

Class: Freshman

Major: Communications

Hometown: Pittsburgh, P.A.

While sitting on the bus to practice next to fellow freshman, Rae Pollock, I thought about who I was going to interview next for my Wednesday post. I then realized while talking with her that she was the perfect candidate. Rae started off this year as a lightweight rower for Mercyhurst and went into our spring training camp a coxswain and I thought it would be interesting to find out what caused the switch, as well as what is was like being a freshman athlete.

Q: What was the transition like from high school rowing to collegiate?
A: The hardest was going from the top of the erg score list and being the best to then being on the bottom. It's a drastic change that is all-around intense. You feel thrown into it. I remember the first day going to get oars and realizing I had no idea where they were, it's all so new and you feel the expectations are higher. I also raced lightweight in high school so coming from that to a team with only one of two lightweight women was difficult since they were all bigger. I had to work a lot harder to try and match their times.

Q: What made you switch from being a rower to a coxswain?
A: I realized I couldn't compete with the top rowers and didn't think that making the V8+ was ever possible. It was then I started to realize that I could help the team more as a coxswain: the women's team needed an extra one, Adrian and Jamie were very supportive of the idea, and already being a lightweight made it easier. 

Q: What's it like being a coxswain in college for you?
A: Well for starters, your entire perspective changes. You go from seeing the head of the person in front of you to then seeing eight rowers alongside a fleet of other boats on a lake. Practices are no longer physically challenging but are now overwhelming. As a coxswain you are focusing on 20 things at once whereas a rower you're just pulling, and after four years of rowing that becomes second nature. When you're a coxswain you have to be prepared for anything and that was a weird transition for me, and I have found it to be very difficult at times.

Q: And what's it like going from being a rower for four years, to being a novice coxswain - and occasionally having to cox rowers who have almost eight years of experience?
A: It's like going from writing with your right hand your entire life, to switching to your left. Everything is backwards and when you're in a boat with such experienced rowers it's easy to question every move and lose confidence. Lucky I share a tight bond with the women's team and they are supporting and willing to help when needed because they know I want to get better. It's scary but beneficial since they have so much experience. 

Q: So then where do you see yourself over the next four team on the team?
A: My goal isn't to get into a specific boat but rather continue to explore this new side of a sport I've loved for five years. I just want to see if I can be a good coxswain, it seems that some have this natural ability and I felt that way with rowing in high school so being able to get that back but with coxing would be the ultimate achievement. 

Men's Team Monday (On a Tuesday)

*My apologies for the late post, we were on Easter Break*

Name: Jonas Weller 

Year: Freshman 

Hometown: Ratzeburg, Germany 

Position: Stroke Seat - Freshman 8
Fun Fact: "I was addicted to Mountain Dew when I first came to America"

How/When did you first discover Rowing?
"Rowing is a big thing in my hometown; everyone tries rows in 6th grade (in addition to other water sports), but I started when I was in 4th grade, because I wanted to do a more athletically demanding water sport instead of sailing or swimming. My father rowed, so he had an influence on my decision to pick up the sport, he mentioned it would help with my fitness. Also, one of my best friends rowed, so pretty much everything in my life was pointing me in the direction of rowing."

What was your most memorable experience rowing in Germany?
"It was 2013 when I raced in the lightweight double and I won the German Junior Championship. The winter leading up to this I had planned on qualifying for Crash-B's (The largest indoor rowing championship, held in Boston, MA) but I missed it by 1 second, so I was really upset. However, this double helped me clear my mind and set new goals, and in the end, winning the championship completely cleared all of the frustration from the winter. The race itself was awesome, before the race was even halfway over, we already had a few lengths of open water on all of the other crews, allowing us to just relax and let the boat run out every stroke for the remainder of the race. My double partner (who was the Bow Man) nearly threw up before the race, but I kept him relaxed and reminded him to just do what we've been doing all year, and if we do that we will win the race. When we crossed the finish line all of my disappointment from the winter was gone. This was my first gold medal on the water and the previous year I got silver 5 times so it was a huge relief and accomplishment to finally get the gold. After finishing, I could hear my coach yelling 'He finally got it!'"
"Later, my mom told me our coach crashed his bike into a fence at the finish line because he was so focused on our race that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He stood up crying tears of joy; the bike crash didn't even bother him."

As you were finishing up high school back home, what influenced your decision to continue your rowing and academics here in America; and what made you choose Mercyhurst? 

"America was really appealing to me. Two guys from my club were already studying in America and they told me so many stories about the team experience, how close everyone is, and how connected everything is. The always bragged about how you don't have to worry about food or any of the little things you do back home. Essentially, you can just focus on rowing and academics. Coming to America also made a lot of sense in terms of my future and creating opportunities for myself. I like the academic system here more than the system back home. What I like more about the Universities here is that you have your major and you can compliment that with minors but in Germany you only have your major and that is it. Things are a lot more flexible in terms of what you want to do, like I can connect business with psychology which I couldn't do back home."

"There were people from my club that lived in Hamburg while training and studying. I heard about how stressful that was, so that option didn't appeal to me at all. It is such a better life here, and it is a lot more fun being a part of this team environment rather than being an individual training on your own back home. It gives me a few more years to still be a teenager and young, rather than start my adult life right away.

"At first I got a list of schools from my friend who studied in Boston, but the list consisted of only Ivy League Schools. The Colombia coach really wanted me and I actually met with him in Germany but I fell just short of his SAT requirements, so I was left with the decision to spend my last few months in Germany studying or I could enjoy my time with family and friends, so I began to think less about those schools. Eventually I came into contact with a coach from Purdue University who quickly referred me to the coaches here at Mercyhurst. It wasn't long before I made the decision to commit here. I officially committed to row here on a full scholarship about a year ago; April of 2014."

Now that you are a collegiate athlete, can you describe what that means to you?

"It is a lot easier to connect school and rowing because everything is all in one place. In my hometown I had to train on my own, whereas; here I train with all of the guys, I eat with them, I go to class with them, and I spend most of my free time with them. The team bond is a lot stronger than I have ever experienced. The training is a lot more fun and competitive and it is way easier to get the motivation to wake up at 5A.M. and go to practice if there are 20+ guys going to be there working out with you."

"We row all sorts of boats here (Singles, Pairs, Quads, Fours, and Eights). I never swept before coming to America so my first sweeping race ever was for Mercyhurst stroking the Varsity 8. I like the 8 a lot more because it requires you to work perfectly with the other 8 guys in your boat, there must be this perfect harmony in order to go fast. It is a lot different than rowing in the single or double."

"Being a student athlete is actually easier than it was back home since everything is so organized. In Germany I would go into the city to get lunch, then drive 15 minutes back to practice, then 10 more minutes home...It took a lot of time just getting to each place. Everything is a lot closer here so it gives me more time to spend on the academics and even the rowing; this is a much better environment for me. The academic support here is wonderful, giving way to a lot of flexibility in terms of scheduling around practice, making the rowing and classes a lot more manageable."

What does this sport hold for you in the future; both short-term and long-term?
"For me, without rowing, it wouldn't have been possible to come here. Rowing has essentially paid my way through school. I have been rowing for ten years, and I still have just as much fun training and competing as I ever have before. After undergrad, I hope to go to Cambridge University in England. I hope rowing can be my ticket into Cambridge just as it was to Mercyhurst. Depending on my performances over the next two years, I will consider trying to row for the German National Team. If I don't do that, I will most likely stop rowing full time, and turn it into more of a hobby. The only exception would be if I was training with the National Team and I had a chance to compete in the Olympic games, but I am very realistic with myself so I understand that this would be unlikely."

"In the near future, I would like to medal at Eastern Sprints with my Freshman 8. After that, I can't really predict what the future holds, so I don't know yet. It would be nice to see this program medal at the IRA regatta in any event before I graduate, and I would like to be a part of that."

Throwback to New Teammates

I decided to throw it back to J-term for this post, and when Mercyhurst women’s team added three international rowers to the roster. At this point we only had one german rower so everyone was excited to welcome our new teammates. We welcomed three rowers, who arrived within a two week period over January. As a way to try and make the girls feel at home with the team and Mercyhurst, we all went to breakfast after running our Monday morning stairs. Our location for breakfast was the famous The Breakfast Place, a huge hit on the men’s and women’s team. We had a long table for over twenty of us (our coach Jamie even joined the fun) and shared laughs over pancakes, eggs, and some really good coffee.

Our three new family members:

Florentine Baron - Oldenburg, Germany

Kathrin Dietiker - Wettingen, Switzerland

Katarzyna, Walentynowicz - Warsaw, Poland