Kiyomi Kishaba
Opinion Editor
I frantically wiped the droplets accumulating on the lens of my camera as the launch boat teetered on the water. Fingers numb, I peered through the damp device to see the boat of eight Lutes in the ready position on the starting line. At the call of, “attention, row!” I bolted out of my seat to capture the boat shooting away across the water.
The rainy day marked the first and last regatta of the Lutes’ spring rowing season, an invite hosted by PLU on American Lake. After a month of preseason training, both the men’s and women’s squads were ready to race. During the spring season, regattas feature intense 2k races instead of the longer 5k and 6k courses raced during the fall season.
On American Lake, where the Lutes train on a regular basis, the 2k course begins so far from the dock the audience couldn’t see the starting line. Since the spectators could only see about the second half of the race, anticipation built until the boats came into clear view. Although far away, the rowers could hear the sounds of cheers as they raced, and were greeted with cold but happy smiles when they reached the dock. Despite being exhausted from racing, they carried the boat back uphill to the boathouse.
I wandered up to the boathouse with my camera, and snapped some photos of the men’s team who had just raced a 6:48 second 2k, only ten seconds off their personal record from last year. Although not a DIII varsity sport like the women’s team, the men’s club team of nine athletes practices early and rigorously. With such a small squad, each individual has to put in their best effort to help the team reach their highest potential.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than everyone putting in their individual work, and bringing it together to see success like we just did,” said co-captain Cade Lilley.
The rowers train at 5:30 a.m. every morning, braving the biting cold out on the water. Before the cancellation of the NWC season, the women dedicated their mornings in hopes of winning their fifth consecutive championship, while the men’s team trained for the Rainier Cup at the end of April, where they hoped to break 6:30 in their eight-boat 2k race.
“We work really hard, we get up early every morning, and we’re proud to be Lutes,” said coxswain Joel Robison.
As a coxswain, Robison sits at the end of the boat and is responsible for steering during the race. He also considers himself, “the ultimate hype man,” as the other part of his job is to keep track of the stroke rates and encourage his teammates to continue rowing fast throughout the race.
“I pretty much just yell, as you can hear from my voice,” Robison laughed hoarsely.
Before a race, the boats were lined up between two buoys by a coach on a launch boat. After eyeballing the boats in line and sending them off, another coach “chased” the race to keep track of the time of the fastest boat. From the launch boat, I could hear, “Lengthen! Power 10 here boys! Quick to the water!” as Robison’s voice echoed over the lake. The coach then gave the winning time to timers on land, who kept track of how many seconds the other boats take after the first boat crosses the finish line, and then did some math to calculate each of the boats’ final times.
As in most racing sports, the level of physical exertion throughout a race is extremely high. Especially in short 2k races, athletes push their bodies to the max to sprint across the finish line.
“I really work harder for this than I do for O-Chem,” said sophomore rower Ethan Marshman.
Senior Molly Ivey stuck with the sport because the team became her community on campus, and makes her feel connected to PLU. She raced in the varsity eight boat for the regatta, and cherished being in the water with her teammates.
“I love rowing because I love getting up and seeing the sunrise on the lake every morning,” Ivey said.
Despite the frigid temperatures during the races, the athletes performed above their expectations. As of March 13th, Northwest Conference athletics competitions were canceled. Now, the team can only dream of rowing against the backdrop of Mt. Rainer as the sun rises again soon.
