1. What inspired you to go to your first rowing practice; was there anything memorable about it?
I started rowing in high school at St. Xavier in Cincinnati. I was looking for a sport to do other than wrestling and saw a rowing flyer at school. The sport looked intriguing, so I decided to try it out for a season. 14 years later, I'm still at it!
2. Was there a practice, race or other event when you fell in love with the sport, or when you knew you might not be too bad at rowing? When you thought you could make the national team?
I had never been the best at any sport, and I had tried them all: baseball, basketball, football, and wrestling. However, once I started rowing, I realized that I had been doing all the wrong sports. I had a bigger engine that most of the other athletes, but I had never competed in anything that took advantage of that attribute. The more and more I rowed, the better I became. I think that improvement is ultimately why I have been competing for so long. Being great at something definitely makes it easier to keep going.
I realized I could make the national team during my junior year of college. I pulled a good erg and was invited to Princeton. My first year on the team, I made the lightweight four and competed in Lucerne, Switzerland.
3. Best race/practice, worst race/practice?
Best Race - Even though it's seven years ago now, my best race is the 2001 IRAs in Camden, NJ. We managed to beat Yale to win the National Championship in the lightweight 8+.
Worst Race - The very next year we won the petite final at IRAs. I had been hurt most of the year and that race was the final blow on what turned out to be a pretty disappointing season.
Best practice - My most memorable practice is definitely my first time back on the water in the fall of 2006 . I had not even looked at boat in two years. I rented a single and was rowing by myself out of Mercer boathouse. I was sitting at one end of the lake, and I remember thinking to myself, "I've missed this sport so much. It feels great to be out here!"
Worst practice - When I decided I wanted to try to make another Olympic team, I began erging at a local gym. I had tried to keep in shape after Athens, but that first day back on the machine was probably the worst practice of my life. After 20 minutes of 2:00 splits, I had to stop because I thought my chest was going to explode.
4. Best/Anything you've done in the sport no one knows about?
I almost stopped rowing after my sophomore year of college. Thankfully, my father talked me out of it.
5. Any/Most important advice for young rowers?
Stick with it! Any sport has its ups and downs, but ultimately, deciding to keep rowing all these years has been one of the best decisions of my life.
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