Q & A With Lauren Shook

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Lauren Shook, a second-year from Grosse Point Park, Mich., recently checked in with VirginiaSports.com to give an update on the team’s winter training and the upcoming spring season. Shook rowed with the second varsity eight last season.

Question: How would you describe last season, your first on the Virginia rowing team?
Shook: It was really good. I loved the team, which is why I came here. I came pretty prepared but it still took some getting used to, because rowing in college is much different than rowing in high school.

Question: What was your first NCAA Championships experience like?
Shook: It was what I thought it was going to be. We went into it thinking of it as just another race, which it is. Obviously it’s a much bigger deal but it was just a mentality that it was just another race and we’ve done it a million times so let’s just keep our heads calm and collected. It was definitely very competitive with all the fastest schools in the country in one place which was really, really cool. I love competition and intensity so I thought it was awesome.

Question: How did you spend your summer?
Shook: My summer! My summer was so much fun. In the beginning I coached rowing. I coached my little brother and my little sister: Megan is 12, Michael is 14. Then, my friend who I rowed with in China [for the Junior National Team], Felice Mueller (who rows at the University of Michigan), we decided we wanted to race and wanted to row so we grabbed a pair, practiced a couple times and went to national championships and got second there. So we practice a couple more times and we went to Canadian Henley and won both the senior event and the intermediate event.

Question: So your brother and sister both row at a relatively young age, do they take after you?
Shook: I started in eighth grade. A social studies teacher at our middle school is really big into rowing and he knew my dad (Terry Shook) from hockey and kind of knew my family. So he asked me if I wanted to try this erging class in eighth grade. I started erging and liked that and started rowing and it all just kind of snowballed.

Question: Knew your dad from hockey?
Shook: Growing up my dad played roller hockey for Team USA. He went to World Championships every year, but we were always too young to go. But I went to the Pan Am Games (in 1999 in Winnipeg, Canada), which is when I knew I wanted to pursue sports. Seeing the opening ceremonies and all the different countries, I thought that was awesome.

Question: Talk about the fall season.
Shook: The fall season was very successful. I was in the varsity eight this fall, so we went to a race in Chicago which we won. We won the Rivanna Romp, and finished third at the Princeton Chase.

Question: You said you rowed with the varsity eight in the fall. Is your boat assignment something that is decided on a race-by-race basis?
Shook: Yes, the program is so competitive and so successful that your seat is never secure. You’re always on your toes. This year for instance it’s been a lot of mixed line-ups and seeing who can make boats go fast. A couple days before the race they usually put the line-ups together. In the spring it’s more set, but in the fall its kind of just figuring it out.

Question: Your team spent a week in Florida on a winter training trip. How was that?
Shook: That was hard. It was a week before Christmas. We went to Deland, Fla. We stayed in a little community. All varsity rowers that were healthy enough and their bodies will let them row 2-3 times a day and some of the novices go. On a typical day, we would wake up and have 2-3 hours on the water. We launched our boats where we were staying, so practice was 7 or 8 a.m., which wasn’t bad. We would go out, have a long row. Hard work and pieces and racing stuff was in the morning. Then we would usually have a little break and eat. And then have a run or a bike or a circuit or something like that. The second practice was usually just as long. Usually it was just a lot of technique and steady state. You’re just rowing for a half hour or an hour.

Question: Now that the team is back on Grounds, what are practices like?
Shook: We haven’t been on the water since Florida. I think everybody’s used to it because pretty much every program has an offseason. I’m from Michigan so I’m used to having months and months of winter training. It’s the least exciting and hardest part of training and conditioning, but really you get used to it. It’s just part of it and it has to be done. It’s cool to see everybody push each other. I’m extremely competitive so it’s fun to see who can do what on the ergs and compete.

Question: Is there a particular race you are looking forward to this spring?
Shook: Everyone that beat us last year. Coming in fifth was definitely a disappointment at NCAAs so this year we’re more fired up than ever. Our ultimate goal is NCAAs – that’s what we work for all season. But every regatta is really fun and exciting. I really like Windermere in Califorina, which we’re going to again. I love racing. That’s what we do it for, the adrenaline rush and sitting at the line with different teams.