Just two years into their tenure as a member of the Seattle University athletics department, the women’s rowing team could be seen by some as an underdog, but their strength and their commitment is already being recognized and celebrated.
The team was elevated to the NCAA Division I level prior to the 2012-13 school year after previously being a club sport, a move that was welcomed but has not always been easy. Only a handful of student-athletes made the move to the new DI program, while the majority of the roster the past two years has been mostly comprised of freshmen who have no previous rowing experience.
The program on its second head coach in as many years, Jenny Park is now doing her dream job, at the ripe old age of 26. After Portia McGee, the one originally tabbed to lead the new program, had to depart and head back to the east coast due to a job change by her husband, then-assistant coach Park was quickly thrust into the spotlight.
“Last year was nuts,” said Park. “I did not expect that coming in; I don’t think anyone would’ve. But I’m feeling very blessed to have been in the right place at the right time and, honestly, who has their dream job by the time they’re 26?”
Before the 2013 spring season, Park was named interim head coach and upon hearing she had officially been chosen as head coach prior to 2013-14, her sense of elation was undeniable.
“When last year wrapped up, I was waiting for the final word to see if I was going to stay here. That was probably one of the best days of my life when I was officially offered the position. To keep going with what we’ve been building has been just great.”
To say that the team has had hurdles to overcome is an understatement. But they have already started reaping fruits from their labor, as both the varsity and novice boats advanced to the Grand Finals at the 2014 Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships (WIRA’s), with the novice boat finishing second and earning the program’s first medal. The novice 8+ also earned victories at the Daffodil Sprints and Covered Bridge Regatta in 2014 while the varsity 8+ defeated two Washington boats at their final race of the season, the Opening Day Regatta, the prelude to the prestigious Windermere Cup on the Montlake Cut.
Even more important than their successes on the water, the team is dedicated to serving and being a part of their community, whether it is the Seattle University campus, Capitol Hill, or the city of Seattle.
At the Athletics Awards Show in May 2014, the squad won the team Mission Award, given to the SU team who exemplifies the Seattle University mission, going above and beyond in their service and dedication to the community.
The team’s biggest involvement this year was in February with Dance Marathon, an event where nearly 200 SU students danced for 16 hours straight to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital’s uncompensated care fund. The team raised over $5,000 as part of the annual fundraiser, a significant portion of the funds raised by the entire Seattle University group. According to the Children’s Miracle Network, the SU dance marathon is the largest of its kind in the west, thanks in large part to the women’s rowing team.
“It was really awesome for rowing to be such a pivotal part of [Dance Marathon] and to make such a large impact, [because] we were the first whole team to participate and were the top fundraising team,” said Mackenzie Gaddy, a member of the team who just finished her freshman year. “We can hopefully continue to foster that relationship and I’m sure more athletic teams will want to [get involved] when they saw how successful it was. It was great to be a part of that and to be trailblazers in that aspect.”
Jen Cruz, a rising junior, agreed, “I can’t even explain how much it meant to me to have the entire team there. It shows a lot about our team and I think it really helped build morale for our team and later in the season, we realized if we could dance for 16 hours, we could do a 2K. It helped build our team this year, spending quality time and making an impact as a team for something that was really great, not just for athletics and not just for rowing, but for people.”
Several members of the team also participated in the Girls on the Run 5K, where they partnered with nearby Bailey Gatzert Elementary and became running buddies for girls leading up to the race. Other members of the team helped with registration and other duties on race day.
“It was really fun,” Cruz remembered, “because we had our rowing stuff on and they were like ‘What’s that? What do you do?’ We weren’t there because athletics told us we had to; it was something we went out and found and it’s something that next year we’d really like to [get more involved with].”
“I really liked the event because it’s all about promoting health and confidence to younger girls, and I feel like the girls on our team are really confident and healthy in what we do and who we are. So it was really nice to be involved in an event we could relate to so closely,” said Mariana Osuna, a sophomore who has been a member of the team since its DI inception.
Brooke McCulloch, a fellow rising junior added, “I think that doing that event showed that we’re not only focused on the community of the school. We’re willing to go across Seattle and have an impact somewhere else, so I think that speaks to our dedication for service. Dance Marathon was awesome because it shows we’re here for the school but Girls on the Run shows we’re here for the larger community.”
Because of the newness of the team, the majority of the rowing team does not come to Seattle U for athletics, but gets involved upon arriving on campus. So, to them, the service aspect of the Seattle University mission is key to their decision to attend school in Capitol Hill.
“This kind of thing, doing service, is something we were planning on doing already and rowing just kind of happened,” Cruz explains. “So it’s definitely something that’s important to our team. We’re here to be students and just happen to be athletes as well.”
McCulloch adds, “I chose the school not because of athletics but got into athletics after the fact, so I like getting to represent the school that I chose in a very public forum. When I go to an event and I’m wearing my rowing gear, everyone knows I’m from Seattle U and I love being able to represent the school in that way.”
Winning the team mission award, “represented a big part of rowing, which is commitment to each other,” said Osuna. “We don’t come here for athletics, but we stay in athletics for each other. An award like this, where we get to win it because we came together as a team collectively, showed that big aspect about the sport.”
“Even if we don’t win it again next year, we’re just going to put all our efforts into getting the grades, community service, and committing to the team anyway,” said Meghan Ricci, who will be a sophomore next season, “because that’s what the rowing team is about and is what we expect.”
Possibly more significantly, they also took home the inaugural Redhawk Pride Cup this season, which was a competition between all 20 teams that awarded points based on athletic and academic performance, community service and hours, and attendance at athletics and University events.
Cruz: “We were holding hands”
McCulloch: “And crossing our fingers and on the edge of our seats, all of us. And then as soon as they said our name, we all stood up.”
Cruz: “Victory never felt so sweet.”
From the first day the competition was announced, the team had their sights set on winning the prize, along with bragging rights among teams and a $1000 check. They hope to use the money to buy GoPro cameras to record race footage in real time from the perspective of the student-athletes. The student-athletes will then be able to have days dedicated to watching film, as other teams do, as well as being able to create videos to promote the program.
“It took a whole year of time and dedication to this pride cup and it was really cool to be able to obtain it," Osuna said.
McCulloch added, “It’s awesome that we won it, but we won it not just for us but for athletics, because it shows that we’re a team that supports other teams. It just shows that we’re not just athletes – we’re Redhawks – because we’re here for everyone.”
“It also brought the team together,” Ricci said. “We have a Facebook group and every other week, we would be like ‘There’s a game, everyone should go,’ and whoever could come would show up. It’d be just another chance to see everyone, we’d all be in our rowing gear, and everyone would be like ‘There’s the rowing team again’.”
Cruz: “There’d be like 40 of us walking in at one time.”
Ricci: “We don’t go places alone.”
A major part of the Redhawk Pride Cup was from points awarded to each team for attending games and matches of other Redhawk teams, something the women’s rowing team sees as very important to the athletics and university community as a whole.
“We can’t really say we’re a part of athletics if we’re not there for each other,” Osuna explains. “In SU athletics, we are a family so it’s really cool to be able to support other teams and see them support us.”
“It makes everyone realize that we have different sports, but we’re all doing the same thing. We’re all working with our team,” McCulloch adds.
“It was one of our priorities to show other teams support because we know if we want to get support, we need to show it to them,” Gaddy says. “So I think we really accomplished that and had a positive impact.”
Cruz agrees, “It makes athletics more inclusive and everyone feels welcome. We’re all student-athletes and it doesn’t matter what team we’re on, we’re at Seattle U, we’re all students, we’re all athletes, so we’re all on equal playing field.”
Through all the hard work and dedication, the team does not take lightly that they are trailblazers for the program at the Division I level. They are the group taking the foundations of the rowing program at Seattle U and carrying it into a new era, and they feel honored to have been given this responsibility and opportunity.
“It’s really cool to think future generations of this team will look back and say ‘Look how much those girls accomplished that year, the first two years’,” Osuna says with a knowing smile. “It’s very nice to think that our team was capable of doing that, even though we’re so young.”
If they could give any piece of advice to incoming freshmen from what they’ve learned thus far from their college experience, and their experience as student-athletes, the resounding common answer would be to try new things and become part of a community, or several.
“Get involved, no matter what it is,” Gaddy suggests. “Just try and get involved with something.”
Osuna agrees, “Don’t be afraid to try anything new. Rowing was definitely new for me and it’s been the best thing I could experience.”
“I think my biggest piece of advice would be to find something you can commit yourself to with everything you’ve got,” McCulloch concludes. “In my experience with rowing, I know the more I put into it, the more I get out of it. But it’s weird because you need to find something you can commit yourself to but not limit yourself. It seems like you have a better experience if you can find yourself a family here. Work hard and don’t be afraid to take chances. And join the rowing team!”
Coach Park sums it all up, beaming with pride in having the opportunity to coach this group of girls saying, “How we’ve come together in the last couple of years has been an incredible experience. The morale that we’re developing is just so positive and I think everyone is so welcoming and so unique in their own ways. We have so many different types of people but we also have so much respect for one another, and I think that’s what makes us work so well as a team. The girls on the team right now are making history in starting the program at the Division I level. I think we grew so much as a team this year and we’re just going to keep building on what we’ve started.”