Seattle Prep Rowing, a considerably new program, has already demonstrated great success on the water. This has led to the Seattle Prep rowing team exapanding to more regattas around the Pacific Northwest. For example, the team has recently had a regatta in the distant Victoria, Canada and in Sacramento, California. That leads to the question, how can they handle the rigors academic challenges yet still compete. Liam Bell 22′ says, “It is a great challenge but through great effort, I am able to strive both on and off the water.”

When traveling to these distant regattas, the team travels in a bus with the entire team which enables members of the crew team to bond. A close team is very important to the sport of rowing, because it requires all members to work together to succeed. Each regatta allows the entire team to bond and grow closer together. This has greatly paralleled on the water, in which the team has displayed resounding success as shown with their excellent performance at Nationals. The novice girls quad won their first nationals win last year.

Seattle Prep Crew has had incredible success in these past recent years due to the program starting strong as evident from varsity coxswaine Maddy Beer 22′ stating that “From the get-go, the Prep team attracted a group of strong, hardworking athletes who set a high bar for the team’s inaugural year.”

When asked who should be responsible for the team’s success, Beer, with a humble attitude says, “I’d have to attribute our success to the incredible coaches our team is lucky to be led by. The strength and hard work of every person on the team is undeniable, but through the careful instruction of our coaches have we truly been able to succeed in the way we have.”

In preparation for these important abroad regattas, a lot of prep work goes into the team to enable them to physically and mentally prepare. The lineup of the boats depends greatly on each individual strength, and how they together can greatly exert the most amount of performance. Preparations include 6k tests on the ergs (rowing machines), scrimmage races, and extensive amount of work on the technical sides. The rowing team also does many pre-race traditions, such as “free speed.” Beer describes free speed as “bucket hats, choccy [chocolate] milk, backwards visors, slapping thighs, and a whole host of other random things. Our team does hail from a Catholic school as signified by the crosses emblazoned on our unis [uniforms], so many rowers like to pray before launching for a race.”

With all of this preparation, the Seattle Prep Rowing team has continued to overcome the challenges of being a relatively new team and has shown their success on both the local and national levels.