For two straight seasons, the Tennessee Volunteers rowing team finished at runner-up to Oklahoma in the Conference USA Championships, falling by only three seconds in the spring of 2014. The Vols have failed to win a conference championship since the 2011-12 season.
Prior to the 2014-15 season, the rowing team moved from the Conference USA to the Big 12 along with others from its conference, but its goal remains the same: to win the conference championship and make the NCAA Championships.
For senior Jessie Richardson, winning a championship is something she hasn’t experienced since her freshman year.
“When I was a freshman, we won the Conference USA championship,” Richardson said, “The past two years have been so close. We lost by only three seconds last season, and that’s become a motivational tool for us.
“We don’t want to be beat like that again.”
Richardson, a native of Apopka, Florida, is the last remaining player from her four-player signing class, and she is the only senior on the varsity team not called up from the novice team. For Richardson, choosing Tennessee was an easy decision during her recruitment.
“I’m not the biggest emotional person, but after my visit to Tennessee, I was with my mom at the airport and just started crying because I was so happy and knew this is where I wanted to go,” Richardson said. “I just really enjoyed how the team portrayed themselves and the resources that were available to student athletes.”
For the last four seasons, Richardson has been one of the team’s coxswains. According to Richardson, being a coxswain is “kind of like being the quarterback” of the rowing team. Coxswains are in charge of surveying the course, keeping the boat on course and ensuring the rowers are working together in unison.
“I’m like a coach in the boat and on the race course in a way,” Richardson said of her duties as coxswain. “It’s a fine line because you’re like a coach but also part of the team. We have to get our rowers’ respect so they will listen to us.
“If they know we’re working hard for them, they’ll work hard for us when we ask.”
Richardson may be a coach in the boat, but she’s learned plenty from the team’s head coach, Lisa Glenn, in her four years at Tennessee. Glenn has been the head rowing coach for Tennessee for the last 16 years, and Richardson now has a good feel for what she and the assistant coaches expect from the team.
“As a senior, I’ve really been able to understand their plan and trust in what they’re needing from us,” Richardson said. “This year we’ve faced a lot of adversity, but it’ll make us stronger in the long run.”
For Richardson, winning the Big 12 Championships and earning the team’s first conference championship in three years is the ultimate goal. With only one event against Central Florida and Iowa remaining before the conference championships, Richardson knows it’s time for the team to move past the adversity and fulfill their potential.
“I really loved my freshman year because we just came together as a team and made it happen, and I just want that to happen this year too,” Richardson stated. “I do not want to leave my team without experiencing that again.”
