Tuesday at 11:12 p.m. Coach Caroline King sent out an email containing the final cuts of the 2011-12 NoviceWomen’s Rowing team.
These girls have only been a team since Tuesday, but they’re already practicing hard for their goal of winning a third Big Twelve Championship for the squad. Eight pairs of arms work synchronously to move one boat through the water as the coxswain calls the commands, “Hits, send, drive the boat, big legs, power ten!”
“I was ecstatic, and stoked, and pumped, because I was going to be part of a team,” freshman Makenzie Harris said.
Harris is one of 77 girls who were welcomed to the team after a rigorous eight days of tryouts. The tryouts consisted of a two mile run test, push-ups test, sit-ups test, and an erg, a machine that simulates rowing in a boat, for the rowers.
“The two mile was the hardest part for me because I’m not in cardio shape—I don’t have a good cardio base,” Harris said.
Other girls didn’t have as much of a problem with the tryouts because they weren’t new to rowing. Junior Kassie Budzick will coxswain for the novice team this year, but rowed for varsity last year. Because of her unique position tryouts weren’t as grueling for her.
“It wasn’t bad for me because I had been on the rowing team for the last two years, so Coach King already knew me as an individual and already knew my potential,” Budzick said.
Both Budzick and Harris have coxswain positions in the boat. As a coxswain they ensure the rowers know what to do.
“I ensure that the rowers have proper technique,” Budzick said. “We steer the boats, and we execute drills and race plans.”
In total there are nine girls in each boat. With one coxswain, the other eight are rowers. Freshman Lauren Moberg will compete in one of those eight positions as a novice also. Moberg, an out of state student from Chicago, IL is not new to sports. She played high school soccer that didn’t continue into college, but still wanted to be involved in a sport.
“I miss the competitive atomsphere of playing soccer,” said Moberg on why she tried out. “It was a good way to meet people, especially coming from Chicago by myself; I didn’t know anyone. “
Even with her previous athletic experience, Moberg had issues with tryouts.
“[It was]challenging. I had to get in shape, and practice on the erg because it was something I hadn’t done before this year,” Moberg said. “A lot of the girls who try out for rowing played sports in high school.”
Unlike many of the girls, Harris did not have an opportunity to play sports in high school, which is why she was so eager to try out for rowing.
“I was a trainer for three years. I played competitive sports and I broke four bones [in middle school] and the doctors wouldn’t let me play competitively anymore,” Harris said.
Harris said she decided to try out because of a motto her friend lives by: One Life.
“I was walking by the booth and I thought: What the hell? One life! I checked it out and then people started doubting that I could do it, so I just wanted to prove them all wrong,” Harris said. “Then I found that I had a big interest in the sport.”
To all the people who doubted her Harris said she has one thing to say.
“When I set my mind to something I get it done—don’t ever doubt me again,” she said.
All three girls said that they’re looking forward to a good year and hope to bring home the Women’s Novice Rowing team’s third Big 12 Championship.
“I’m looking forward to bonding as a team and winning as a team,” Harris said. “When you create that bond with your teammates the attitude and the charisma of the team is just better… typically I find that the stronger the bond with the team, the more likely you are to win.”