Rowing

from page 8A commanded the coxswain position as a freshman. The coxswain’s primary job is to steer the boat, make motivational calls, and direct the power and speed of the rowing rhythm.

Summerfield was a newcomer to the Women’s Youth 4+ group alongside O’Donoghue, and the two were ready to join a group that had finished fourth at nationals in 2022.

Bachert said that with her, Sjogren and Brown already motivated to make a run after last season’s campaign, O’Donoghue and Summerfield were the final pieces to the puzzle.

“I think we all really had something to prove, as in the three of us that went to nationals last year, we were basically on top the whole nationals last year,” Bachert said. “We had placed third in time trials and second in semis, and then we had a bad race and placed fourth in the final, which was really disheartening. We all wanted to go back and we all wanted to win, and the two people who weren’t in the boat last year had something to prove, that they were good enough to race in this boat that raced so well at nationals last year.”

The team finished second in the regional qualifier, the Midwest Championship, on Lake Harsha in Bethel, Ohio, by less than a second but was able to qualify for nationals.

For Bachert, a college commitment for rowing wasn’t in the cards just three years ago, but Bachert said the sport has been life changing.

“It’s something I did on a whim,” Bachert said. “I didn’t know it existed, and then I saw somebody in a boat on the river, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to do that,’ and then I showed up to rowing the next day. It’s changed me as a person completely. I’ve been able to travel the world and I’ve met a bunch of my best friends from the sport. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”