Uncharted territory

Regotta — a series of boat races, usually describing a contest between rowed or sailed watercraft.

See also: Naval competition, water sport.

Sitting on a long, wooden bench in downtown Leavenworth, Immaculata senior Ailey Connelly is quick to explain.

“No, nothing at all and I told them that,” Connelly said. “I didn’t know anything at all about the sport and they were like “That’s OK. We will teach you every thing you need to know.”’

Five minutes west, Lady Pioneer senior Mallory Patten provides a similar answer over the phone.

“All I knew was from the pictures I saw,” Patten said. “I knew rowing existed because of the Olympics, but never thought it was here in Kansas.”

And thus began the story of two friends making the most uncommon and unique decision of their lifetimes together — without ever once speaking to each other about it.

This is the tale of how a pair of local athletes decided to join the Kansas State University women’s rowing team.

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Sculling — one of the two forms of rowing where each rower has two oars, or sculls, with one in each hand. The other form, a sweep, has a rower hold one oar with both hands.

See also: Sweep-oar, types of rowing strokes.

Popping out of a side door at Immaculata High School, Connelly quickly flags down a semi-lost reporter.

The 5-foot-11 senior basketball, volleyball and track athlete guides him to a seat in the cafeteria where the conversation moves quickly to the matter at hand.

How in the sam-hill did you decide to be a rower?

“Well, K-State kept sending me letters at school about rowing,” Connelly explained. “They would be these big packets and the first ones I just threw away.”

“Finally, I think around November, I opened one and started to look into it.”

The idea quickly began to explode from one synapse to another, and eventually it led to a higher power.

“My mom knew a girl that rowed before and said she really liked it, so I was like I might as well fill out the recruitment slip,” Connelly said. “There is no harm in that.”

Across town Patten, who became friends with Connelly a year earlier thanks to a mutual friend, found her interest in the watery pastime peaked from an entirely different source.

“Aubrey Gasbarre graduated from my school and her mom, Laura, talked about rowing and how much Aubrey liked doing it when she would substitute teach,” the 5-foot-7 swimmer said.

“It sounded fun and interesting, so I got online to research it. Then I filled out the recruitment form in November.”

And just like that, the duo’s stories unknowingly began to intertwine.

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Coxswain — the member of a rowing crew or shell who sits in the stern facing the bow, steers the boat and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers.

See also: Captain, leader.

“They look for a certain height and athleticism,” Ailey’s father Mike Connelly said. “When she went down there on a visit they gave her a flexibility test among other things.”

Mike Connelly couldn’t help himself. The moment he found out about the prospect of his daughter being a DI athlete, he had to learn more.

“Obviously being a coach I immediately got online and tried to find out all I could about Kansas State rowing, rowing itself, and what they use for training,” the Immaculata boys’ basketball coach said.

“What they have is a NCAA Division One program with 24 full scholarships to give. If they wanted to compete on a national level, they would take 24 scholarships and go to Europe, but that’s not the philosophy at Kansas State.”

“They want to win with Kansas girls.”

To do that, the coaching staff scours the local high school sports scene for athletes that match targeted characteristics such as height, endurance or flexibility. Going beyond that, the program also provides free recruitment videos, applications and information on its website.

After finding interested candidates, the KSU coaches then do what they do best — they coach.

“If you don’t know how to row, they like it so they can teach you the right way,” Ailey Connelly said. “I didn’t know anything about it so they told me how it works, what you need to do to train and so forth.”

The simplified way to explain collegiate rowing is a side-by-side race usually between two to six teams of eight-person powered boats. The standard length of a race is from 1,500 to 2,000 meters long with the boats starting at the same time and location.

First boat to cross the finish line wins.

“I’ve learned that on an eight-person boat, the two front people are rhythm,” Ailey said. “The four in the middle are pretty much powerhouses, and the two in the back are technique.”

“I think I would be good at the technique spot.”

The team competes in two seasons, the spring and fall, and trains during the other two.

During the summer, it’s not that difficult to find some water in the heartland of Kansas; but during the winter, it becomes a little bit tougher.

“They have really nice facilities where they train inside on machines and training equipment during the winter months,” Patten said.

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Teamwork — the true essence and defining characteristic of a championship rowing crew.

See also: Friendship, unity.

By mid-March, both girls had been invited to visit the Kansas State campus.

“When I went there, I was really, really nervous about what they are going to think, but then I stepped inside and it all went away,” Patten said. “I went to the weight room and all their places and I came out to the car and I was like ‘Mom, I’m going to do this next year’.”

“It was instant, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

The feeling was mutual for Connelly.

“I went down there and they showed me everything,” Connelly said. “It was great, amazing and an opportunity that I had to take.”

And so she did; they both did. In late March, after hearing the surprising news of Ailey’s decision from her sister, Patten texted Connelly the good news. They were no longer just friends, but teammates.

“Since I’ve been swimming, I really enjoyed the comrade of a group and wanted to keep that somehow,” Patten concluded over the phone. “I’m going to row because it will help me next year with that as well as my academics.”

“K-State felt like home, especially when I visited there for the rowing.”

And with that, the conversation had reached its end.

Three days earlier, standing up from the wooden bench, Ailey Connelly was presented the same question. Why rowing and why at K-State?

She paused for a moment and then simply smiled.

“K-State felt like home to me.”