After losing an oar mid-race and making a quick comeback, Texas A&M Crew first-year rowers defeated TCU and Baylor by over a minute in the Steelhead Regatta on Sunday, Sept. 29, at the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas.
In addition to the Men’s Novice 4+ crew taking first place, the Men’s Varsity 8+ — a boat containing eight men and their coxswain — rowed against TCU and Baylor to add another first-place A&M victory during the final race of the day. The Aggies’ persevered despite a headwind and the heat of the day taking its toll.
Overall, A&M Crew earned two first-place finishes and two fourth-place finishes for both the Women’s Varsity 4+ and the Men’s Varsity 4+.
Results from the Steelhead Regatta placed A&M Crew in third place out of four colleges that competed. TCU took first place while Baylor finished second overall. The team’s head coach and construction science junior Paul Bagley sat in the seventh seat of the Men’s Varsity 8+ boat for the race. Along with top finishes, Bagley said he has other goals for the 2024 season.
“I want to have a whole bunch of gold medals,” Bagley said. “A flourishing community of rowers who are proud to be in Texas A&M Crew.”
The comeback win by the Men’s Novice 4+ crew was the first race of the day and included four men and their coxswain, responsible for out-rowing four other boats down a 3.2-kilometer race course. With about 1,200 meters left, industrial distribution junior Kai Johnson’s oar broke out of its hold and went flat against the water. Computer science senior Brian Mckeown — who sat in the first seat of the boat for this race — explained that Johnson managed to fix both issues within 45 seconds to help the team recover and take first place.
The next race for the Aggies was the Women’s Varsity 4+. With a shift of the wind creating a less advantageous headwind down the river, the team secured fourth place 49 seconds behind White Rock Boathouse, who took first place.
Philosophy senior and the team’s social media manager Hope Klingenstein — who rowed on Women’s Varsity 4+ — estimated that 80-90% of the crew had never touched a boat until they showed up for the try-out event.
“The vast majority of us are first-time rowers,” Klingenstein said.
The Men’s Varsity 4+ was the final race of the day and brought A&M another fourth-place position.
“The new crew members have helped the club grow over the past two years,” chemical engineering junior and Varsity 8+ rower Ethan Moilanen said. “Freshman year, I think we only had 30 people, and we’ve basically doubled since then.”
The team will travel to Oklahoma City on Friday, Oct. 4 for the Oklahoma Festival Regatta.
