Regina Salmons graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 and is currently set to race bow seat the USA W8+ at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
What inspired you to go to your first rowing practice; was there anything memorable about it?
The high schoolers on the team had come to our 8th grade class and recruited me and some of my friends, telling me I might be good at it since I was so tall. The first practice we went out had super rough waters, over 12 mph winds, where maybe we shouldn't have gone out at all. Before I knew anything about anything we went out in mixed eights, and I was smack dab between two senior boys who were telling me to "tap down" as my oar was being smacked around by the waves. I wasn't fazed though, I immediately loved the feeling of the boat moving and how strong it made you feel to move the boat despite the bad conditions. Like a warship with a purpose, somewhere to go, somewhere to be.
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?
It always just felt like being in a boat was exactly where I was supposed to be. My high school coach Brian Brunelle told me he thought I could make the Junior National Team which put elite rowing in my peripheral vision, even though I was cut pretty quickly. I made the U23 team in 2016, and again in 2018, winning in the 2-, 4- and 8+. I just fell in love with going fast and was invited to the Training Center post-graduation. Making boats go fast is so fun. I just wanted to see how far I could go--see how many gears I had.
Once you have a taste of it, it's hard to stop chasing.
Best race/practice, worst race/practice?
One of the races that I'm the most proud of was the 2018 Ivy League Championships-- We were such underdogs but so so hungry. We'd gotten fourth both years prior in the 1V which also felt like huge victories after not even making the grand final my freshman year and coming in 7th. Going into the 500m to go we were even with Brown, with Princeton and Yale just ahead. I looked over and saw Brown already rating high, even for them. We still had a gear to kick with the rate and I knew we could sprint.
From 6 and the back of a bucket, I locked eyes with the coxswain, she called for us to go and the boat just kept moving. I could feel everyone in that boat pulling so hard, so much love for those girls. We got the win over Brown and it was Penn's first medal in the 1V since 1980. It felt better than winning, all the girls in our boat were crying except for me-- I just couldn't stop smiling. And then an hour later, my bucket-mate and co-captain Natasha and I drove like crazy ladies to our college graduation making it just in time... still wearing our unis and medals underneath our robes.
Best/Anything you've done in the sport no one knows about?
In 2018 before rowing the pair at U23 Worlds with Alina Hagstrom, my absolute legend of a pair partner, we got the chance to race the IDR regatta in Philly in the U23 Men's pair. We made the A final and had a hell of a race. We were supposed to be in lane one based on our heat progression, which would put you closest to the stands and based on the turn you "up" at the starting line because of the turn in the river. But the referees who had made it difficult for us to race in the first place (we had to email every one of the entries beforehand and get their individual permission to race) switched us arbitrarily to lane 6, meaning we wouldn't know where we were off the start.
We chased down the boys in lane 1 though anyways, and with also hitting the buoy by the bridge (my bad) we only lost by 2 tenths of a second to the 5th place crew and were close to the 4th crew as well. Afterwards, all the guys we raced were so awesome and hyped for us and wished us good luck. It was such a good race to prepare us for Worlds-- when we started down in Poznan we weren't phased and knew we could walk back in the 3rd 500m, and we did just that to win. If you can hang with the tough Philly kids, you can hang anywhere.
Any/Most important advice for young rowers?
Love the sport first-- be confident in who and what you are no matter how fast or slow you are in the moment. Doing the best you can every day adds up, pushing yourself a little bit further every time will take you far. Having fun and enjoying what you're doing will take you farther than you think too. Focus on building strength-- doing core/ab work will help you with form.
And just really take care of yourself and your body--stretching, eating well, and mental health especially-- don't worry about being too skinny or too big or too this or not enough that--you're so beautiful and strong just the way you are, ya know? And you have to believe in yourself, especially when you're hurting or you're down. You really can do it.
Hometown: Methuen, Mass.
Club Affiliation: Princeton TC
Date of Birth: April 21, 1997
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 175
Education: University of Pennsylvania, 2018
Training Location: Princeton, NJ
Current Coach: Tom Terhaar
National Teams: Four - Under 23, 2016, 2018; Senior 2019; Olympic, 2020
International Results: Served as an alternate at the 2019 World Rowing Championships...Finished fifth in the four at the 2019 World Rowing Cup II...Won gold in the pair at the 2018 World Rowing Under 23 Championships...Won gold in the four and eight at the 2016 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
National Results: Placed third in the varsity eight at the 2018 Ivy League Championships (Penn's first medal since 1980)...Won gold in the intermediate four with coxswain at the 2015 USRowing Club National Championships.
Personal: Regina was born on 4/21/1997 and attended The Derryfield School. She loves to write poetry, and in college, she was the editor in chief of the feminist literary and arts magazine "The F-word" and chaired the poetry workshop group "The Body Electric" named after Walt Whitman's poem. She admires her parents for their sheer love and determination and wants to grow up to be as kind and strong and persistent as they are. Regina is a 2017 and 2018 Scholar Athlete Award (CRCA) winner, for maintaining above a 3.5 GPA and participating in more than 75% of varsity races those years. She also was a 2018 All-Ivy First-Team selection. Regina is thankful for her high school coach, Brian Brunelle, and her home rowing club, Amoskeag, for instilling her love of the sport and their support.
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