6/22/2018 11:15:00 AM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing, Student Athlete, Features
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By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
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For the Lehigh rowing program, the 2017-18 school year ended with two boats on the medal stand at the Patriot League Championship, something that was just a dream one year prior.
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However, the turnaround took much more than one year. It was many years in the making, and the biggest turning point was initiated by the recently-graduated Class of 2018.
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"Coming off the 2014-15 school year, there was a lot of conflict within the team and the results didn't really pan out for what we were hoping to achieve," said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. "A lot of the freshmen that year had been recruited and it was our largest recruiting class up until that point. They asked to talk about what they needed to do in order to be better."
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After finishing eighth out of nine teams at the Patriot League Champion, they knew something had to change. At the time, they thought they were working hard, but it didn't lead to results.
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"Finishing in eighth was proof to our class that something was not adding up – for the expectation and reality to be so far off," said Jules Malachin '18. "What was going to get us to our end goals was a change in mindset. We knew it would be easier said than done, but we were committed to doing more and proving ourselves in the league. That's what inspired us to meet with Coach Conley and better understand what it would take to bring the team to the next level."
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"With everything that I put forward to them, they wanted more - working harder, using more meters on the erg and everything like that," said Conley. "They were all about it."
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Most exciting was that the meeting was initiated by the student-athletes (both the women's and men's team). They wanted to take ownership of their program.
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"In my experience as a student-athlete and coach, the seasons that we had our best years, which included national championships, were when the athletes were driving the bus and fully committed to making the boat go as fast as possible," said Conley. "Coming to Lehigh, I struggled a little bit with that. But when I saw this class starting to understand what it took, the more I put on their plate, the more they ran with it, the more they liked it and felt that this was their team. That's the way it should be."
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"It wasn't until after meeting with Coach for three hours, we spoke about the potential of this program and saw the team through his eyes, that I began believing we were at the cusp of something great," said Chet Bickhart '18.
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The athletes and coaches turned that talk into action. Â
"With respect to goal setting, we divided our goals into three subcategories - athletic, academic and social - to ensure that the direction of the team would be clearly outlined," said Elise Fredericks '18. "Our athletic practices, leadership training and overall team environment then shifted to accommodate for these goals. We included more nutrition talks, sports psychology counseling sessions and tougher workouts into our training plan with the mindset that these additions would eventually help us accomplish the goals we had outlined to Coach."
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"With the start of our sophomore year, we all had the mindset that the team we were part of was going to be something we created," said Bickhart. "We all wanted to build a championship culture, a winning team. That mutual desire fueled our drive to take action.
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"We also strove to build up our family values by creating Team Fridays and mandating that we eat together in the dining halls," Bickhart continued. "We set up study hours and helped each other with classes, we had competitions on who would spend more hours in the library and gave rewards to teammates who got extra meters on the erg. We also provided a foundation for teammates to be recognized by the initiatives they took through the creation of management positions. This flourished into having Philanthropy, Equipment, Alumni-Outreach, and Social Media managers – people on the team who are committed to growing their teammates through the expansion of whatever area they are managing."
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Led by the Class of 2018, change was incrementally made. Heading into their junior years, the team figured out a way to hold everyone accountable in the summer months.
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"We developed the idea that we were going to race the Via Half Marathon to have them come back in shape," said Conley. "That served as a launching board, providing a great understanding of what it would take to win."
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The program was making small steps forward, but to truly break through, the Mountain Hawks needed to take all aspects of their training to another level… and they did. It led to an important step forward in tangible results.
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In 2016-17, the women's team tied for sixth place at the Patriot League Championship, at the time shattering the previous school record for points with 26, led by the Varsity Eight who finished fifth overall and defeated Bucknell for the first time in over a decade.
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"Beating Bucknell was a huge turning point for the program," said Malachin. "That was proof enough that all the changes we were making were in fact paying off, and not just talk. Coming off that season, the upperclassmen were more determined than ever to keep pushing and build upon the standard we just set. I credit that season to inspiring more changes our senior year. That small victory over the Bison inspired a lot more for the new team."
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The table was set to take an even larger step in 2017-18. The season would see the women garner the program's first-ever NCAA Regional Ranking, the first Patriot League Boat of the Week in program history, the first Patriot League Championship medals in school history and the best league championship performance in program history (tied for fourth place with 33 points). The men's season featured plenty of highlights as well, including the Varsity Eight defeating archrival Lafayette in the River Cup, the Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight advancing to the petite finals at the Murphy Cup and the Second Varsity Eight reaching the petite final at the Kerr Cup.
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The Women's Varsity Four became the first boat in program history to win a medal at the Patriot League Championship while less than 20 minutes later, the Second Varsity Eight followed suit, coming back from a late deficit to overtake Bucknell by 0.038 seconds and capture third place. In fact, the women were in second place overall at Patriots entering the final race of the day, just two points out of first place.
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At the start of the season, a Patriot League Championship seemed like it was a mile away. Â Now, it appears much closer than the Mountain Hawks could have ever imagined. By focusing on small improvements and creating a strong foundation, success has followed for both the women's and men's programs.
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"To me, the biggest turning points for the program stem from the smaller victories – having teammates consistently set personal records in the erg room, seeing teammates voluntarily tutor each other to ensure that grades don't falter and our athletic eligibility is not jeopardized, or becoming a more visible force on campus by making a point to attend as many Lehigh sporting events as possible," said Fredericks.
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"It's those seemingly miniscule factors that really have helped propel this team to a new level. They are essentially the foundation upon which the bigger victories and turning points have been built."
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"There was the 'extra meter' phase of my sophomore year, when the team as a whole began recognizing the importance of getting more meters on their own and how such practices lead to faster boats," said Bickhart. "Then there was the 'accountability' phase of my junior year, when the team began developing their own sense of personal integrity and team-wide accountability."
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Accountability has been key throughout the process, taking ownership of the small things. Â
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"We have a lot of setup that goes into practices," said Conley. "Up to that point, the team would always complain about why it takes so long to set up. It took so long because the athletes weren't wanting it to take less time. Once they took ownership of day-to-day operations, it started to change."
Jules MalachinÂ
Mary O'Hurley Leadership Award winner
(Given to Lehigh Athletics' top graduating female leader)
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Taking accountability in the little things like practice setup helped foster a culture of accountability across the board.
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"It's important to understand the differentiation between a teammate and a friend in those moments you have to hold somebody accountable," said Conley. "It's not anything personal, but it's about the goals of a team. They learned that. They learned it well in 2016-17 and they learned it through a lot of hard lessons."
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Those lessons paid off.
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"This year was definitely the most special season so far, just in the willingness to trust the coaching staff and the willingness to trust the process," said Conley. "There was a lot of back-and-forth early on about why we're doing certain things, but the student-athletes developed a mindset of 'nothing's going to stop us from being as fast as we possibly can.'
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"Looking at the women's team in particular where in the fall, there may have been six people who were definitely going to fight for the Varsity Eight. By the time the spring rolled around, there were 14 that we were looking at to compete for the top boat. That was exciting in itself. The more depth we can have on both sides (women and men), the more competition there will be and the faster our team will be overall."
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When thinking of the legacy of the Class of 2018, tangible results won't be most important. The class will most be remembered as being the catalysts of change, who left the program in a strong position to continue its upward trajectory.
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"Moving forward, the team must celebrate successes, but work hard not to become complacent," said Fredericks. "The leaders of the program must foster an environment where they invite teammates to stay hungry. I want my teammates to remember that they must always demand more of themselves and the program as a whole. As long as the team stays focused on its goals and keeps their sights set on the bigger picture, the sky is the limit."
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"The future looks bright," said Conley. "If you had told us back in September that we would have been on the medal stand at Patriots, I don't think anybody would have believed us.
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"When you put in the work, anything can happen."
 
