5:55 a.m. The alarm clock beeps and instantly jolts you from your sleep, the pulsating numbers on the clock making you question your commitment. The drive to St. Marks is quiet and dark, not a soul on the road at this time of day.
Most people prefer to sleep in.
6:30 a.m. During the peaceful morning, others begin to file in Spencer Gymnasium to begin one of the many off-season 90 minute steadies. All before school starts.
For the majority of students, a 5:55 wake up call is entirely out of the question, but for junior rowers Ian McGowan, Elijah Kraus and Hewes Lance, this everyday routine is merely a minimum requirement to the success they’ve seen throughout their respective careers. They set the standard.
While McGowan, Kraus and Lance differ in their background and introduction to the sport, they have a seamless collaboration between not only their personal goals but the goals for the entire crew team. Despite being juniors, they have already changed the culture of the school’s rowing team through their relentless work ethic and unique approach to competition, creating something that will outlast their Upper School rowing careers.
For McGowan, his path to success was paved well before he knew it. Coming from a household built on rowing, McGowan shares his passion with his brother, Evan McGowan ‘22, who he accredits his desire to be the best to.
“I started because of my brother,” McGowan said. “I saw him rowing during COVID a lot and erging, so I decided to try it out and got really interested.”
Similarly to McGowan, Kraus’ background in rowing stems from a familial tie to the sport. Ever since his father was exposed to the sport during college, rowing has played a substantial role within their family.
“My dad lived with members of the men’s Olympic team in Princeton while they were training there,” Kraus said. “He rowed for a little bit in college, but one of his close friends was part of that boat, so when I was looking for a sport in seventh grade, he told me to try rowing.”
Beginning his career in crew unusually late compared to most rowers, Lance’s introduction required some friendly encouragement and a leap of faith. For Lance, a conversation with math instructor Corindo Martin is what ultimately kick started his career.
“I started spring of my freshman year just to sign up,” Lance said. “Mr. Martin told me I needed to do a sport when I met Ian (McGowan) and Eli (Kraus). I can’t really run fast or play lacrosse so I just decided to try crew.”
Because crew is one of the most team-oriented sports, the three juniors had to accumulate immense trust and chemistry to maximize the success of their boat. Through years of practice, the three have learned their roles to perfection and move as a unit.
“The middle of the boat is referred to as the engine room,” Kraus said. “So we’re solely dedicated to focusing on Ian, while Linyang is focused on making sure our boat doesn’t crash and steering it.”
Although the three have differing backgrounds, shared experiences are a common goal of building success around the program, ultimately leading to the team’s early morning practices. During his eighth grade year, McGowan tagged along with Brendan Kelly ‘24 to a morning workout and realized how effective it was to the team’s performance.
“We figured out that we need to continue this so we doubled down and instead of 45 minute steadies we made it 90,” McGowan said.
The following year, the juniors began to lead the attendance of the practices and set an example. After some time, other rowers began to follow in their footsteps. Through the junior’s leadership, what once was a dying practice soon became a revived St. Mark’s rowing tradition.
“Eric Yi and Walker Stevens started showing up and once those guys started coming, it was kind of like a chain reaction where all of the guys that were really successful on our team were showing up to the morning workout,” McGowan said.
With desire for excellence and a collegiate future in the sport, the three decided they had to take their commitment to a further extent, uniting to compete together outside of school.
“Over the summer we all went to a camp with Dallas United and we practiced there for a month and then we raced at summer nationals.”
Perhaps their biggest race this year came when they traveled to Boston from Oct. 18-20 to race in the Head of the Charles Regatta. Although competing against some of the world’s strongest competition was a challenge, the team faced another problem.
“We went into the race racing in a boat we had never ridden in before and with a coxswain that we had never met before,” McGowan said. “We were also racing in a different kind of boat. We were racing in a cox quad when we train in a coxless quad, so it was heavier and rowed differently.”
Despite these hardships, the boat finished 15th out of 50 teams and top 10 in the nation. Although the three continue to earn top place finishes and record the fastest times during an erg session, they feel as though their ultimate goal for the team has been met.
“I’m really glad we were able to build that culture,” McGowan said. “I think it was everyone that showed up to the morning steadies that built that culture and it’s a really fun one to be around.