A Sooner, a Lady Volunteer and a Hurricane walk into a regatta … and unlike any joke that you might be tempted to make, this scenario saw three poised and focused young women skillfully representing the Vashon Island Rowing Club recently on an international stage.
During the school year, one of these rowers wears the orange and white of the University of Tennessee Volunteers, another, the red and white of the University of Oklahoma Sooners. Big 12 conference rivals now as collegiate rowers, it was not so long ago that Kirsten Girard (Tennessee) and Kalie Heffernan (Oklahoma) were both sporting Vashon Island Rowing Club (VIRC) blue.
Both members of Vashon High School’s class of 2015, the two participated in junior crew for four and three and a half years respectively, where they were more than just teammates — they were partners in the women’s varsity double and half of the women’s varsity quad essentially the entire time. Suffice it to say the partnership was a successful one, with the pair qualifying in the top three in the region two times (champions in 2013) to go to U.S. Rowing’s Youth National Championships in the double and the quad, with two top 13 and two top 10 finishes to show for it.
While one year saw Girard with a different partner in the double and Heffernan in a single — both again qualifying and competing at nationals — the two have always had a certain synergy as a team.
“While both bring different strengths to the boat,” VIRC head coach Richard Parr said of the two, “they also bring out the best in each other.”
Both Girard and Heffernan were awarded NCAA scholarships to row for their respective colleges. Tennessee, it should be noted, is a Southeastern Conference (SEC) school, but due to a lack of rowing programs in the SEC, they row in the Big 12, pitting the former partners against each other during the school year.
Both home for the summer, Girard came up with the idea for the two to reunite as a team and compete for VIRC at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada.
“I thought it would be fun to row together again this summer,” she said. “And it would give us both a way to train during our time off from collegiate rowing.”
Royal Canadian Henley — not to be confused with England’s Henley Royal Regatta — is a 134-year-old annual regatta that, according to Parr, is the largest sprint-style regatta in North America, attracting crews of nearly every age category from all over the world. And while some of VIRC’s junior rowers have gone to Canadian Henley with other clubs during summer camps over the years, Vashon has never been represented there as a club. That is until Girard and Heffernan, who are still VIRC members, decided to go.
Parr’s primary goal was the same as that of his charges: to give them good training for the summer so that they could both go back to school in good shape “to continue their excellent work of the past year.”
Both Girard and Heffernan noted that they will each have a standards test upon arrival back to school, with repercussions if the standards are not met — at Tennessee, not passing the test results in not being able to attend regular practices with the team until the test is passed, and at Oklahoma, not meeting the standard means not being able to travel with the team. It’s all part of being an NCAA athlete.
Initially, the two were only interested in competing in the double.
But when Parr saw them in a shell rigged as a pair (two rowers, two oars, as opposed to the double, which has two rowers and four oars) when the club had to move its boats for the Cascadia Rising exercise, he liked what he saw.
“They looked really good since they’d both been sweeping all year,” he said, “so it made sense to me to have them compete in both events.”
It didn’t take long for the two to warm up to the idea.
“At first we weren’t really interested in adding the pair, because we came home from school and wanted to take a break from sweeping,” Girard said. “But then we realized we wouldn’t need to practice it that much, and it didn’t make sense to travel so far for only one race. We decided it would be a good experience.”
So after weeks of training on Quartermaster Harbor, off they flew to eastern Canada last week (with Heffernan’s mother Lea along as their parental support team). They set to work with the generous assistance of John Armitage (Parr’s own mentor and first rowing coach) and the Kingston Rowing Club. Armitage, founder and longtime coach of the KRC, offered coaching support if needed and loaned the two a boat from his club for their endeavors.
Girard and Heffernan represented Vashon with grace and resolve in an age category where they were among the youngest and smallest, and wind conditions unfavorable for smaller crews. With the fifth fastest time out of 26 entries in the pair, and the seventh fastest time out of 49 entries in the double, the reunited team and their former-now-summer coach are pleased with their results.
“They acquitted themselves really well,” Parr said. “As always, I am proud of how they represented our club both on and off the water.”
All involved have said that they would compete at Canadian Henley again, given the opportunity.
“Since we were some of the youngest people there this time, it would be neat to see what we could do either individually or together in the future,” Girard said, with Heffernan adding, “We can only get better.”
While the dynamic-duo got a little Niagara Falls sight-seeing in during their adventures, they also caught sight of another force of nature/VIRC alum at Henley: University of Miami Hurricane crew member Taegan Lynch was there, rowing for the Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia.
Lynch, who has forged a very successful post-junior crew rowing career with the Hurricanes, was fresh off gold, silver and bronze medal performances at USRowing’s Club National Championships just a week earlier. She earned another gold and bronze at Henley.
