This girl does it all. Senior rower Jen Reck is a first-team All-American, an international silver medalist, captain of the 2003 ACC Crew of the Year and a national scholar-athlete working towards a degree from the Commerce School.
"Her work ethic is incredible," rowing coach Kevin Sauer said of Reck. "She is always working hard."
Reck, who is serving as a team captain for the second year in a row, strokes for the first varsity eight -- a boat that won races against Stanford and Washington State this past weekend in California. In the same regatta, the team led by Reck suffered its first loss of the season to the University of California-Berkley by what Sauer said was "less than a [boat] length."
Reck's senior leadership has contributed to the team's success all season long and will become even more important as the athletes prepare for their only home regatta, to be held at Lake Monticello April 10, when Virginia's rowing rivals Michigan and Ohio State come to town.
"We always have this duel and it's always close," Reck said of the matchup. "There is a lot of respect between the teams."
Reck admitted that her team has work to do and speed to gain before it will be ready to take on its rivals but said the Cavaliers have the talent to row all the way to the top.
"More than ever, we have a chance to win a national championship, and day in and day out we need to be reminded of what we're going after," Reck said.
Sauer said he believes that the team's trajectory can benefit greatly from Reck's leadership.
"She's the stroke of the boat, which mean's she's setting the pace and everyone is following her," Sauer said. "The kids know she's one of our best rowers. She's got international medals and that kind of pedigree is important to our team."
Reck's record in international competitions is as outstanding as her collegiate performances. As a stroker for the U.S. women's four crew in the under-23 World Rowing Championships, Reck earned a silver medal in the summer of 2001. She also medaled twice at the Junior World Rowing Championships her junior year of high school, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that she was a swimmer for most of her high school career, and took up rowing only to rehab an injury she incurred in the pool.
"It was kind of fate, if you believe in that," Reck said of her move from swimming to rowing. "I just fell in love with it immediately."
Reck attributed her desire to be a college athlete to the influence of her father, a standout college baseball player who was drafted by the Detroit Tigers.
My father "told me everything I had sacrificed up until college would be worth it to be a college athlete and experience the team camaraderie that comes with it," Reck said. "He was definitely a driving force."
Now in her senior season, Reck's goal of becoming a Division I athlete has long been realized. With three consecutive ACC championships behind her and the quest for a fourth in full swing, Reck continues to push herself both in the boat and in the classroom. Juggling a sport as physically and mentally demanding as rowing with a Commerce school curriculum is enough to exhaust any college student, but Reck thrives on the burden of her schedule.
"It's definitely demanding and sometimes you're sleep deprived," she said. "It doesn't make much intuitive sense, but when we have a rigorous practice schedule I am more focused."
For Virginia rowing's jack-of-all-trades, Reck, motivating teammates to work towards a national title and crunching numbers at the Commerce School are all in a day's work.
The fact that "she balances being a team captain, a team leader, one of the best kids on our team and doing very well in school is just a testimony to her character," Sauer said.
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