Skyler Townsend '26 Recruiting Profile

Hello, I’m Skyler Townsend, a highschool junior. This spring will be my 5th season as a rower.

I’m fascinated to be part of the team and the sport of rowing for several reasons. Primarily, with how all rowers must work in cohesion to keep the boat set and moving forward to make a fast boat. I find it interesting to pick out the technical points that are slowing or speeding up the boat. Lastly, I have a natural passion for exercise and training to improve.

Rowing has taught me many life skills including personal dedication, setting & achieving goals, and most of all teamwork. This sport requires a huge amount of patience and harmony. 

I feel that I have traits of a helpful and friendly teammate. I’m a coachable athlete that works hard to fix corrections that my coaches give. I have respect for others, the equipment, and the boathouse. The team consistently sees me arrive early for every practice. Other rowers look to me for advice as I try hard to lead by example.

At the start of this past season, my coach said, “Your erg times are not the sole factor that ranks you on the team.” All of these factors I mentioned are important to a well rounded athlete aside from a fast 2k time. 

Erging is mental toughness at its finest. It involves weeks of dedication and showing up multiple times a day in order to drop even 1 second off a time. It can be frustrating or rewarding. The road to these faster times is long and tiresome but worth it. 

As an athlete, my goals are to never peak because I want to continuously improve my technique and strength. I love rowing with teammates that always push one another, show up everyday and want to be there. For my future in rowing I always want to row with people better than me. A goal of mine is always to be the weakest in the boat because that pushes me to become a better rower. Thank you for reading about me and I can assure you that I work hard everyday for the opportunities I earn.