The NSU rowing team, the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championships, will look to accomplish one of the hardest things in sports, repeat as a champion. Every other team, not only in the Sunshine State Conference, but in the country, will be targeting NSU, the team that stands atop the mountain. To become back-to-back champions takes not only the talent and dedication of the team but also a little luck.
The 2014 rowing season kicked off on March 8, with the Spring Break Race at Rollins University, and it is the first step for the Sharks’ on their way to become NCAA Division II National Champions in women’s rowing for a consecutive year. Prior to the beginning of the spring season, captain Stephanie Hauck, a senior sport and exercise science major, reminisced about the surprise run to the title last year and what first-year coach Stephen Frazier-Wong was able to do with the team.
“[Frazier-Wong] planned it perfectly because we peaked [physically] at last national championships. That’s what I think anyway,” said Hauck. “The whole process was a lot of trusting the coach, trusting each other, becoming closer, and always being on the same page for what we wanted to do with that day.” Assistant Coach Samantha Sarff, standing in for Coach Frazier-Wong who was unable to be reached for comment due to the birth his child, was able to elaborate on the success of the 2012-2013 season.
“The team was so fast. They had potential there all along and a lot of it was getting them to believe that they had the talent, the power and the people to win a National Championship,” said Sarff. “We kept getting closer to the competition each race. We were building off that and it just all came together right at the perfect moment and everything went right for us at NCAAs. It was such a memorable experience just from a coach’s perspective. Highlight of my athletic career and I wasn’t even a rower.”
After every year, each team must deal with different loses and gains that may affect the team both positively and negatively.
Hauck said, “We brought a lot of speed into the [2013] fall season. I’m pretty confident in saying we were faster than last fall. Then again, fall is different racing and different training but as we bring that into spring and train for spring, even our weights coach said, ‘I’ve never seen the team so determined.”
Three seniors from last year’s NCAA Championship boats have graduated, but NSU has recruited well and brought in eight of strong freshmen this year who are contributing.
Sarff said, “We are in a good position and keeping the same philosophy as last year, too, just constantly improving. We know we have the speed, we have the people, it’s just putting the pieces together.”
The raised team expectations have grown even more since the end of the fall season. Although not every race was won, there were positives to take from each one. The team has corrected issues from the fall but the potential set for the rowing team has made the team’s desire stronger than ever.
“We came back really strong [from winter break]. If we still have that drive now, then I’m confident we will do well and only get better from last year,” she said.
Many teams look to avoid talking about the expectations, in hopes of not jinxing the possibilities. It is difficult enough to win it once, but to win it again is extremely challenging, so teams tend to ignore any added pressures. It’s easier to fly under the radar on the road to the championship, but when every other team has the champion in their sights, it turns that road into a gauntlet.
“We want to [repeat], it’s definitely the goal. We did it once, so it’s going to be the expectation from now on. But there is a lot of good competition out there and they are going to make it tough. We have a target on our backs now,” said Sarff.
The NSU rowing team has a mixture of experience, youth, speed and power to compete with the conference’s and the nation’s best rowing teams, but will luck be on their side?
