In a new blog series, Emily Puia will be taking us behind the scenes of the UCF rowing team.
As the countdown to the American Athletic Conference championship lessens, our team's excitement and drive to race grows each day. We only have one more practice left on Lake Pickett to build our confidence and set us up to be ready to race in Tennessee.
This is the race that we have been training for all season. At the end of the day, nothing else matters other than conference. This is the time where all the early mornings, extra workouts, and sacrifices that we have made throughout this year shines. Unlike other races, conference is a one and done deal. We have one shot and one opportunity to show our competitors what we are made of and I am beyond excited to go out and show off this Sunday.
"I'm feeling really excited to get out there and put out our best race possible! We have been improving as the season has gone on and I can't wait to go out with my teammates and give it our all," sophomore Tegan Fookes said. "I'm also ready to go into our last training on lake Pickett tomorrow with determination to make it our best row yet."
While there are a lot of lasts happening as the season closes, it is a bittersweet time for the seniors leaving. Tomorrow's practice will be one of the last practices ever on Lake Pickett for some seniors and this Sunday will be the last chance to secure a conference championship for them.
Senior Lauren Roman spoke with me about her season coming to an end.
"The year is finally coming full circle. We've been working and working and now we're days away from the moment we've been thinking about since we started back in the fall. For me - this is my last conference race and I am ready to show off everything we've been striving for and leave it all out on the water."
Tomorrow we will be loading up the trailer and saying goodbye to Lake Pickett as we head to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It officially the final countdown and I could not be more pumped.