PORTLAND, Ore. – Over the past year and a half, there hasn't been a single college sport that hasn't been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Events were canceled, student-athletes were rendered unable to play and all sorts of other obstacles emerged due to unforeseen circumstances that have forced the whole world to adjust.

Portland Pilot rowing coach Gulliver Scott felt the brunt of it. He signed on to be just the third head coach in program history in September of last year, still in the thick of the pandemic. He had to prep his team for a spring season without the benefit of a fall schedule. He also had to do it without being able to recruit novices and walk-ons for the team, something foundational to many rowing teams across the nation.

"With very few students on campus, that didn't happen," Scott said. "That was a huge thing we had to deal with last year."

Despite the interruptions, the rowing team persisted, as many teams did, and they successfully completed their spring schedule. That in and of itself felt like the biggest accomplishment, Scott conceded. In a year filled with delays and cancellations for just about every sport, being able to finish a full schedule felt like nothing short of a miracle.

"Overall, I thought things went well and we survived," Scott said with a chuckle. "Not every team in our conference was able to field a full contingent of boats at our championships, so just getting through honestly was an accomplishment."

The Pilots didn't just finish their spring schedule and field a team at the WCC Championships; they performed well. They had several strong races leading up to the WCC's, with both varsity eight squads sweeping the races at the PLU Invite, the varsity four taking first at the Portland Invite and the varsity four and second varsity eight taking first against Seattle U. The Pilots also battled against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, one of the top teams in the WCC, at the Gonzaga Invitational.

All this was before taking fourth at the WCC Championships, which included a third-place finish for the second varsity eight. All told, it was about as successful of a season one could ask for with numerous obstacles in the path.

"I don't really think there were expectations in all honesty," senior rower and captain Maddie Olson said. "It was like controlled chaos in a way that we still did better than any years in the past and we didn't even practice for a fall … we haven't have a boat get third (at WCC's) in years, which is already a step forward."

Having to navigate being a new coach during the midst of a COVID-affected season was something Scott admitted was difficult. Trying to adjust to a new campus, a new staff, meeting the team, new training restrictions, etc. – everything was made more challenging by not having the luxury of meeting everyone in person all the time.

"Just the little things like getting to know people and not really being able to have in-person meetings," Scott said about the challenges. "Just getting settled here at UP, getting to know people and the department, just made everything harder."
 
It was hard on the athletes as well. Olson remembers those times of uncertainty far too well. Before Scott came to UP, training encompassed a lot of individual workouts just to stay in shape. The athlete in her student-athlete descriptor had been taken away without her having any say in it, and she realized quickly that she missed all that comes with being a college athlete.

"I never thought I'd want to wake up at 5 a.m., but here we are," Olson said with a laugh. "Getting to experience that and having rowing taken away from us made me appreciate it 10 times more."

Even then, with all the challenges, Scott saw his team handle everything thrown their way, from the coaching change to COVID to everything in between. The result is that heading into this year, the team feels ready to push themselves farther than before.

"I think we really made some great strides, and I think the team really began the process of creating higher expectations for themselves," Scott said. "We talk about different kinds of goals – our outcome goals, our performance goals and our process goals – and we just overall as a program have high aspirations."

Olson echoed that sentiment, noting that the feel around this team is just different. Olson notes that the team had adopted in the past a "Four No More" motto in reference to the team's frequent fourth-place finishes at the conference championships. But Olson says that while they're certainly not content staying fourth in the conference, the focus isn't as much on beating other teams. Now it's more about trusting the process, focusing energy internally and turning that into results.

"This year we're finally turning inward and there's an attitude of 'How fast can I personally be?'" Olson said. "That kind of shift has made us drive harder because there's just kind of a fresh slate."

Scott agreed. The way Olson describes it, Scott joining the Pilots last September was actually a prime time to do so. It allowed Portland to start fresh, to welcome in a new coach and a new mindset. The focus is still on winning, but that motivation and drive to succeed is no longer external.

"We're really spending less time worrying or thinking about what other people are doing and just focusing on internally being the best student-athletes we can be and being the fastest team that we can be," Scott said. "We're competitive, right? We want to go out and win, so ultimately that's the goal, but developing that mindset is really where we're at right now."
The roster itself is strong. The team is relatively light on newcomers – a result of both the lack of novices available to walk on and Scott's late arrival affecting the recruiting cycle – but both Olson and Scott noted that those who did join have already made significant contributions.

"They've had this crazy awesome attitude of just accepting this new mentality that the team has and pushing it further," Olson said. "They're actually a lot of the ones that are driving this new attitude."

There are plenty of important returners for the fall and spring as well. Olson, who was named to the All-WCC Preseason Team last season, will be a significant part of the team this season. Portland also returns Avery Romano, who was one of two Pilots to earn All-WCC honors last year.

These are just some of the names, but when asked to pick people that have stood out, Scott hesitates. It's not because no one has shined – he did note that seniors like Olson have been critical to start the year – but more because no one should be standing out. In a sport where every action has to be done in unison, if someone sticks out, that's usually not for the good of the team.

"It's a good question that kind of goes against the grain of our sport," Scott said. "If you're standing out or if you're sticking out, then you're probably not doing the right thing. The whole goal is to blend in and to match up with your teammates."

Just because rowers naturally don't like to talk about who's standing out doesn't mean the team isn't confident in their abilities. They'll have the chance to put on display some of the work they put in this fall with three races, the first coming up this Sunday, Oct. 17, with the American Lake Fall Classic. While the stakes aren't quite as high as the spring season, the fall still provides the Pilots with an opportunity to test themselves against other teams.

"Our sport is unlike most in the sense that the ratio of training time to competition time is pretty extreme," Scott said. "So part of the fall racing is just to be in a competitive environment and to have the team bonding and fun of traveling together and seeing other teams compete … just breaking up some of the training because we've trained a ton."

As always, the team is filled with competitors who are hungry to win, but the fall is also a great time for the team to bond and build trust with each other, something the team didn't have the luxury of doing last season. Fall is a chance to show other teams what they're capable of, but it's also a time to start building the necessary relationships before the spring season starts.

"Fall is a time to have fun and really get a good foundation, both technically and physically, so that over the winter and over the spring we're going to explode," Olson said. "So it's really about setting up a good foundation in a lot of different ways so that we'll be able to win championships."

10 years ago, the University of Portland added rowing as an official varsity sport. 10 years later, the team has come out stronger than ever despite dealing with a coaching change and a global pandemic. Last year was about surviving, making it through the season and getting the best results possible. Now it's about squaring away unfinished business.