Muddy Lake Carnegie holds dreams of gold

After graduation, most Tiger athletes hang up their uniforms, leaving both Princeton and competitive athletics behind to take on jobs in the real world. For the most elite rowers, however, both Princeton and crew remain quite a strong presence in their lives.

Eight Princeton alumni are still in town training for the Olympics on Lake Carnegie with the U.S. men's and women's national rowing teams, and though they may be spending most of their time less than a mile away from their alma mater, their lives have changed drastically since graduation.

For rowers — and all other athletes — at Princeton, life is a delicate balance between training and academics. In between classes, homework and having a social life, they are also expected to be in top physical condition and spend dozens of hours on the water and on the erg. For these eight alumni, crew has become the first and only priority post-graduation.

"When I first started, I kind of joked [about it]," Steve Coppola '06 said. "People would ask me what I was doing and I'd say, 'I used to be a full-time athlete and a full-time student, and now I'm going to try out just being a full-time athlete.' "

Gevvie Stone '07 echoed that sentiment.

"I'm training three times a day, four days a week and twice a day two days a week, and once a day on Sunday," Stone said. "Life goes around crew as opposed to crew being a part of your life."

With their schedules now centered on rowing, these athletes' lives have shifted greatly in focus, if not in location.

"The first year after I graduated was crazy," Lia Pernell '03 said in an email. "All of a sudden, I was getting a solid eight hours of sleep a night, and the only stress I had was about rowing ... To finish a race and not have to worry about how fast I could get back to my room to finish a paper was pretty sweet."

So besides the more intensive training schedule, what's the difference between college and post-collegiate rowing? According to Coppola, the contrast is not so great for alums of Princeton crew. After seeing the national team boats practice on the lake nearly every day, Coppola found himself well-prepared to join their ranks.

"We tried to hold ourselves to a pretty high standard at Princeton," Coppola said. "For some guys, it's a huge, huge difference in terms of their training environment. With us, we were training [on the lake] alongside the national team guys. You can see how they're behaving when they're training ... You see how much effort they're putting in. You get an idea of what's going on and what's to come. If you pay attention, you can aspire to that."

It is not easy to snag a spot training with the national team. For instance, Stone began by competing in international regattas during the summer. She submitted her erg scores and got her Princeton coach to talk to the national coach. Through that, she earned an invitation to row at the selection camp for the U.S. U-23 team. From the eight rowers at the camp, four ? including Stone ? were selected to compete at the U-23 Worlds. Stone competed for the national U-23 team for two summers — traveling to World competitions in Hazewinkel, Belgium and Strathclyde, Scotland — before being asked to train with the senior team year-round.

The senior team represents the highest level of rowing in the country. These athletes are focused on building both their strength as individuals and as a team.

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"When it comes down to it, when the blade goes into the water, everyone pulls their weight," Coppola said. "You're taking the top guys from the top programs in the country, and everyone kind of behaves the same way and knows what they need to do."

Considering the high stakes, this level of professionalism is unsurprising. The boats that will represent the United States at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will be composed of the men and women training with the national team on Lake Carnegie today. For example, of the 26 women rowing with the team right now, about 16 of them will represent the United States next summer in China.

Though these athletes have traded Ivy League rivalries for international competition, sharing the water with their old team has helped maintain their interest in the Princeton rowing program.

"It's nice to see those guys training and keep tabs on them," Coppola said. "[All of the alumni rowers] still at Princeton still keep tabs on the Princeton rowing team. We like to hear that they're doing good things."