UW Rowing To Hold Open Tryout Sep. 30
September 14, 2015 | Women's Rowing
SEATTLE — Washington men's and women's crew will be holding an open tryout for walk-ons on September 30 at 4 p.m. PT at the Conibear Shellhouse. No previous rowing experience is needed to try out.
What: UW men's and women's crew open tryout
Who: The best athletes on campus (no previous rowing experience needed)
When: Sept. 30, 2015, 4 p.m. PT
Where: Conibear Shellhouse
Throughout program history there has been an abundance of walk-on success stories. Currently on the women's side, junior Sarah Dougherty began her career as a walk on and won two gold medals for Team USA at the U23 World Championships, winning one in the women's eight as well as one in the women's coxless four. Half of the 2015 NCAA Championship women's varsity eight began their collegiate rowing careers as walk-ons.
For the men, walk-on junior Eric Benca competed for the men's four at the U23 World Championships and was the stroke of the 2015 National Champion third varsity eight. 2015 graduate Nicolas Cypro was a high school cross country runner before rowing for four years at UW, becoming an IRA National Champion as well as a Pac-12 Conference Champion. Lowell Neil ('08) was an accomplished violinist and member of the national ski patrol in addition to his status as a walk-on rower, and then added IRA National Champion and Pac-12 Conference Champion to his resume. Beddome Allen, Drew Fowler, Ryan Schroeder and Matt Zapel are more examples of countless Huskies, both male and female, who have come to Washington without previous rowing experience and have left with National Championship rings and accomplished collegiate rowing careers.
Many former walk-ons have had a history of success rowing after ending their collegiate careers, going on to row for the Senior National Team as well as winning gold medals at the Olympics. Kerry Simmonds, Megan Kalmoe and Adrienne Martelli are current rowers for the Women's Senior National Team and each won gold medals for the U.S. at the 2015 Sr. World Championships. The past two Olympic gold medal eights have been made up of over half collegiate walk-ons from a variety of schools.
Questions can be directed towards either the men's assistant coach Matt Rung at mrung@uw.edu or the women's assistant coach Conor Bullis at rowudub@uw.edu.
