Feb. 4, 2008

Gonzaga University women's rower Whitney Patrick is in her final season on the Bulldogs squad. The senior from Spokane is the team's captain this season after leading the Varsity 4+ to back-to-back West Coast Conference Championships in 2006 and 2007. Patrick also rowed in the Junior Varsity 8+ boat which placed second at the WIRA Championships as a junior. As a Sophomore, Patrick earned All-WIRA second team accolades after the Junior Varsity 8+ placed third.  

Q - How did you get into rowing?

A - My senior year of high school I set up an athletic profile on gozags.com and the rowing coaches contacted me. I had never rowed before but I am tall and athletic so they wanted to meet me. I came to visit the campus and watched one of the rowing practices. It looked like fun, everyone was really nice, and so I decided to give rowing a shot.

Q - Do you find it difficult to be a collegiate athlete?

A - Being a collegiate athlete is not difficult if you know how to manage your time. In fact, it has helped me better manage my time. When you have practice, school, and your extracurricular activities, you are forced to use your time wisely and get things done. Without rowing I would be the biggest procrastinator.

Q - What is the general attitude and mindset of the team?

A - The team this year is very focused and dedicated. At the beginning of the year we set a goal as a team for where we wanted to be at the end of the year. Every person on the team is committed to working as hard as they can for this goal. At the same time, we also know how to have fun. As a team we have sleepovers, dinners, go to the movies, and just enjoy hanging out with each other.

Q - How often do you work out?

A - We have two racing seasons, fall and spring. During the fall we are in 20 hour weeks, so we practice Monday through Saturday. We have at least one workout a day as a team, usually on the water, and then a secondary workout that we do on our own time. Since winter is our off-season we go down to 8 hour weeks, practicing once a day Monday through Friday. By the end of January we get back into 20 hour weeks and start preparing for spring racing.

Q - What is your favorite part about the sport?

A - There are so many things about rowing that are amazing and most of them you wouldn't understand unless you have actually done the sport. Watching the sunrise, the feeling of eight people moving as one, pushing your body to the limit and finding out you still have more to give, these are a few of the things I love about rowing. However looking back on my rowing experience so far, if I had to pick just one thing that I enjoy most about rowing it would be the amazing friendships I have made with my teammates.

Q - What are you looking forward to most in the spring?

A - I am looking forward to see how far this team can go. We have so many strong and talented athletes on this team and I think we are going to be really competitive. We have been working so hard and I am excited to see what barriers we can go break and how far we can go.