Throughout the year, Vanderbilt students trek to the Cumberland River to perfect their rowing stroke on their water. Coordinating their movements through the eye of the boat’s coxswain, the Vanderbilt Crew Team spends hours on the water and in the gym to make sure the team moves with perfect precision throughout the season, which culminates in the annual National Championship.
In 2017-2019, the Vanderbilt Rowing program broke many of its records, with an ACRA National Championship in the Women’s Four, a gold at the Head of the Hooch in the Men’s Eight, and a program record finish at the Head of the Charles with the Men’s Four. The past five years of the program have consistently reached new heights as the team competes against other clubs and varsity crews around the country.
Each year the crew takes on a new group of novice walk-on rowers, many of whom never participated in a regatta, and prepares them for the anticipated National Championship in May.
“I enjoyed being able to take on a new sport and truly excel at a national level” says Hayden Grobleben, the stroke seat of last year’s Men’s Novice Four which placed fourth in the United States. Grobleben was previously on the 2017 United States Triathlon Team, winning a bronze medal at ITU World Championships, before he joined Vanderbilt Rowing.
Years ago, the rowing team ‘facility’ consisted of a few ergs on the corner of the Rec’s indoor track; today, the team operates water practices at two locations on Percy Priest and the Cumberland River, with a dedicated erg room in the recreation center. In October, Vanderbilt Rowing will host the fourth ever Music City Head Race, hosting over twenty colleges from across the nation, racing through downtown Nashville by Nissan Stadium. Many novice rowers and coxswains will be taking their first ever strokes on the water this week, knowing they will represent Vanderbilt at its highest level of rowing to compete in just a few weeks.
Note: Naveen Krishnan is a coxswain and the current treasurer for Vanderbilt Rowing.
