8 — Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Novice rowing program turns walk-ons into national champions

In 
observance 
of 
Women’s 
History Month, The Daily’s sports 
section is launching its second 
annual series aimed at telling the 
stories of female athletes, coaches 
and teams at the University from 
the perspective of the female sports 
writers on staff. We continue the 
series with this story from Daily 
Sports Writer Lane Kizziah.
Last spring, as the 2V8 boats 
lined up at the start of the grand 
final of 
the 
NCAA 
Rowing 
Championships, Madison Byrd 
took a second to appreciate 
where she was. She sat with arms 
outstretched and her blade in 
the water, and as she waited for 
the horn to sound, something 
dawned on her.
Byrd was about to race for a 
national championship in a sport 
she knew little to nothing about 
just two years earlier.
“I was shaking because I was 
so nervous,” Byrd said. “But I 
was also so thankful for what the 
novice program had done for me.”
The current junior walked onto 
the novice team — for athletes that 
hadn’t been recruited to row — at 
the beginning of her freshman 
year. Like most of the novice 
rowers, she was a competitive 
athlete in another sport in high 
school. Byrd knew she couldn’t 
play volleyball, her first love, at a 
school like Michigan, but she still 
had an “itch to compete” after 
graduation. She wasn’t ready to 
give up being a student athlete.
At the suggestion of a friend, 
Byrd reached out to the novice 
coach midway through her senior 
year and started training for 
tryouts before she even got on 
campus, although this wasn’t the 
norm for freshmen joining the 
team. 
“The novice coach does a lot of 
recruiting on campus,” Byrd said. 
“I’d guess every girl on campus 
has been approached by the 
rowing team at Welcome Week or 
in the Diag or Festifall and a mass 
email goes out at the beginning of 
the year.”
That mass email is what drew 
Lara Vanderbilt to the team this 
fall.
Like the majority of the novice 

team, the sophomore transfer 
student didn’t know much about 
the sport before deciding to try 
out. But, that hasn’t limited her 
success as she’s spent all spring 
bouncing between the top two 
novice boats.
“(Tryouts) were a little scary, 
just because there were so many 
girls there,” Vanderbilt said. 
“I really wanted to find a like-
minded group of women that 
would be my great friends and I 
could get strong with.”
In such a technical sport, the 
novices spend the beginning 
of fall season working on the 
mechanics of the rowing stroke. 
From the catch to the drive and 
the finish, there are dozens of 
small details that can take years 
for a rower to fine-tune. Not only 
does a rower have to focus on her 
own stroke, she also has to make 
sure that her timing matches the 
seven other athletes in the boat. 
Despite the difficulty of this 
juggling act, novices are thrown 
into the mix off the bat.
“You start off novice year and 
you plop eight girls in a boat and 
you don’t know what starboard or 
port is,” Byrd said. “But, you take 
a hold of the oar and you start 
moving up and down on the slide. 
Slowly but surely, your coach 
is teaching you how to insert 
the blade into the water, how to 
pull through, how to feather the 
blade.”
Although it’s a very technical 
sport, the lack of positions in 
rowing make it more adaptable 
than others, such as soccer or 
basketball, where it can take years 
for players to learn the nuances 
of a particular role. Once the 
novices conquer the mechanics of 
the stroke, they are ready to race.
While the actual movements 
may be adaptable, the physical 
and mental strains of training 
can create a hard transition 
into the sport. A combination of 
self-selection and cuts shrink 
the group from almost 200 to 
just three boats of eight by way 
of conditioning inside on ergs, 
which rowers refer to as “torture 
devices.”
Those who stay — like Byrd 
and Vanderbilt — stick out the 
arduous 
training 
because 
of 
strong connections with their 

teammates and a competitive 
drive. Through facing constant 
physical challenges, these women 
are pushed farther than they ever 
thought was possible, leaving 
them to wonder what else they’re 
capable of.
“I love the saying, ‘Those 
who stay will 
be 
champions’ 
because if you 
stick it out all 
four 
years, 
you will be a 
champion in so 
many 
ways,” 
Byrd said. “It 
shapes 
your 
character 
into 
something 
you 
never 
thought 
it could be. You have a whole 
new take on life and how to get 
through difficult situations. It 
gives you way more motivation to 
get through challenges in life.”
The novice team gives these 
women the rare opportunity to 
compete as Division I athletes 
with no prior experience in their 
sport — making the physical and 

mental challenges of adjusting to 
a new sport worth the effort.
Many of these women, like 
Byrd, go on to have remarkable 
careers on the varsity team later 
in their careers. Senior Victoria 
Glunt may have started on the 
novice team three years ago, but 
by her junior year, 
she was rowing 
across the finish 
line in of the NCAA 
Championships 
in the top varsity 
eight. 
Senior 
Emily Krebs has a 
similar story. After 
starting out as a 
walk on, she was a 
member of the 1V4 
that finished fifth 
in the country last spring.
Novice year is full of firsts, 
from the first time on an erg 
to the first time on the water, 
rowing under a pink sky. Another 
first is fast approaching for this 
year’s novices: the first spring 
race, which will take place next 
weekend against Harvard.
“It’s hard as a novice rower who 

has never had the opportunity to 
race — it’s hard to imagine that day 
coming,” Vanderbilt said. “People 
who have experience racing talk 
about it as this culminating, 
beautiful but very hard moment, 
but none of us can really imagine 
it. All of the physical building of 
this winter has been to do well at 
these races but we’re just sort of 
dreaming up what it would be.” 
Byrd 
remembers 
her 
first 
spring race well. Going in with no 
expectations, the top novice eight 
faced Ohio State and Notre Dame.
“When we lined up for our 
first race, we thought ‘Let’s see 
if we really can be good,’ and we 
won that race,” Byrd said. “It’s 
a shock to your system because 
racing a two (kilometers) hurts 
like hell. That’s what you have to 
deal with physically. Mentally, 
what you go through during a 
race, you have to stay so focused 
on the rhythm and the person in 
front of you. You’re also letting 
your competitive nature fuel you 
in order to walk back up on teams 
and cross the finish line first even 
though it hurts horribly.”

As the 2V8 boats lined up at 
the start of the grand final of the 
NCAA championships last spring, 
Byrd sat at the catch, listening to 
the announcer call out the boats.
In lane one, Texas. Lane two, 
Virginia. Lane three Washington. 
Lane four, California. Lane five, 
Michigan.
Even through her nerves — 
whether in her first novice race 
or last year’s grand final in which 
Michigan came in fourth — 
Byrd has always appreciated the 
unique opportunity of being able 
to compete for the Wolverines, an 
opportunity she rightfully earned 
through her commitment to the 
novice program. And now, she 
knows the experience has been 
worth even more.
“Every single day has pushed 
me past every single point where 
I don’t think I can go any further,” 
Byrd said. “Mostly because I’m 
so inspired and motivated by 
my teammates every day. I have 
a newfound sense of how far I 
can push myself and how hard I 
can work in order to get the best 
outcome possible.”

LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan rowing team includes athletes who started rowing through the novice program, like Madison Byrd, who competed at the NCAA Championships.

March spotlight finding Livers

DES 
MOINES, 
Iowa 
— 
At Michigan’s media day in 
October, Isaiah Livers sat with 
two reporters as a swarm of 
cameras huddled around Jordan 
Poole a few tables away.
Naturally, the conversation 
shifted to Poole, and Livers’ 
reaction to seeing his best 
friend rocket to national fame 
overnight. At the time, Livers 
said he could never imagine 
being 
in 
Poole’s 
situation, 
insisting he works better out of 
the media spotlight.
“I think when you go through 
life, you’re always gonna get 
overlooked,” Livers said. “I just 
feel like that’s just how life is.”
Saturday night in Des Moines, 
those roles suddenly reversed. 
This time, Livers’ name shot 
across national airwaves after 
posterizing Florida’s Andrew 
Nembhard to help send the 
Wolverines to the Sweet Sixteen 
— the zenith of a postseason 
in which he has averaged 12.0 
points per game 
on 
58 
percent 
shooting.
As 
soon 
as 
Michigan 
opened 
the 
doors 
to 
its 
postgame locker 
room, 
Livers 
was surrounded 
by 
media 
members, 
two 
and 
sometimes 
three-deep. 
Without 
the 
assumption that Livers was 
amidst the huddle, it would’ve 
been impossible to locate him.
Across the room, sophomore 
forward CJ Baird looked on in 
awe as his often-overlooked 
teammate 
found 
himself 
in 
the spotlight. While the media 
attention was new — even to 
his teammates — the dunk itself 
wasn’t.
“I’ve gotten dunked on by him 
like six or seven times,” Baird 

said “… It’s great to see it on other 
people. Cause we get dunked 
on all the time in practice and 
finally seeing that on somebody 
else, it’s good.”
Those 
highlight-reel 
moments, 
though, 
hadn’t 
manifested themselves in games. 
Livers’ athleticism has always 
been on display, on the defensive 
end or in pregame warmups, but 
the confidence to go for it in a 
game had eluded him.
But as he drove to the rim with 
just Nembhard in his way, Livers 
knew this was 
different. Out of 
the corner of his 
eye, he caught 
Poole pointing to 
the sky, signaling 
the 
alley-oop 
that Livers might 
normally 
settle 
for.
Not this time.
Livers 
took 
off from beyond 
the restricted arc, exploding 
onto the rim with two hands 
and only realizing the ball had 
gone through when Michigan’s 
bench shot to the air in delight. 
As Livers returned to the floor, 
Poole’s calls for a pass had 
turned to a celebratory flex.
“When you see Isaiah dunk 
the ball, it looks different from 
your perspective but we see stuff 
like that all the time,” Poole 
said. “And being able to show his 
athleticism, it’s just amazing and 

it’s awesome.”
Just eight minutes earlier, 
Livers had found himself in an 
all-too-familiar spot, sitting on 
the bench with his confidence 
sputtering after a mental lapse 
that allowed the Gators to finish 
a lob at the basket. Assistant 
coach 
DeAndre 
Haynes, 
recognizing Livers’ frustration, 
instructed him to move on and 
take the ball to the basket with 
confidence.
For the rest of the game, he 
sat for just 1:24, scoring seven 
points and igniting Michigan to 
a 64-49 win.
“It’s incredible,” said assistant 
coach Luke Yaklich. “Isaiah’s 
worked his tail off and he has 
heard so many times in film 
sessions, ‘When are you going to 
take the ball to the basket hard? 
And land on two feet and finish 
at the rim or dunk on somebody.’
“And 
that 
moment 
right 
there was so fun because it was 
a culmination of a lot of film 
sessions and a lot of individual 
skill development work to get 
him to that spot.”
As Livers returned to the 
sideline with 24 seconds left 
and the win long secured, John 
Beilein met him with a hug as 
the Wolverines’ fans behind 
the 
bench 
rose 
in 
unison. 
Eventually, he made his way 
back to Haynes, who gave him 
two congratulatory slaps on the 
chest and one final message.
“I told you, man.”

Against Texas Tech, a tough lesson

With the bruises of last 
weekend’s weekend series with 
No. 19 Texas Tech behind it, the 
Michigan baseball team knows 
that it wasn’t good enough.
“We 
got 
exposed,” 
said 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich. 
“We 
couldn’t 
hold 
(Texas 
Tech) down in the bullpen. 
They sped the game up on us 
defensively, they ran out one 
mid-to-upper 90s pitcher after 
the next and we weren’t able to 
handle it as well as we would 
have liked to.”
The setback comes after 
a first third of the season 
where 
the 
Wolverines 
put 
on a show, winning 15 of 19 
games with all components of 
the team clicking except for 
a week in California, where 
Michigan’s offense struggled. 
That problem seemed to fix 
itself in the first homestand 
of the season, when it crushed 
opponents 
Manhattan 
and 
Western 
Michigan. 
The 
solution, 
though, 
was 
temporary.
“We just couldn’t string 
(clutch) 
at-bats 
together 
against Texas Tech when we 

had our scoring opportunities,” 
Bakich said. “We probably had 
the best chance to win a game 
in game three against Texas 
Tech. We had the bases loaded 
twice and just couldn’t get that 
big hit. Against a good team, 
that’s what you need. You need 
those two-out RBIs.”
The sine curve of the offense 
wasn’t 
the 
only 
struggle 
against the Red Raiders — even 
Michigan’s strengths seemed 
to 
wilt. 
The 
Wolverines’ 
defense 
committed 
eight 
errors, costing them nine runs. 
Its pitching walked 19 batters, 
13 of which came from a leaky 
bullpen.
“They took advantage of our 
mistakes and they did what 
we’ve done to a lot of the teams 
that we’ve played and opened 
up a large margin in the 
scoring,” Bakich said. “When 
they walked us or made errors 
against us it usually turned 
into a big inning, and that’s 
what Texas Tech did against 
us.”
Now it’s time for Michigan 
to learn. The Big Ten season 
is around the corner, and with 
it comes the opportunity to 
play consistently good teams 
— those that will make the 

Wolverines pay when they 
make mistakes, in the same 
way the Red Raiders did.
“The validation of having 
been in coaching and being in 
college baseball for a long time, 
having validation that we’re on 
the right track,” Bakich said. 
“(Texas Tech is) ahead of us 
right now but we’re getting 
there and seeing how close 
we were through the early 
and middle part of the game, 
and seeing exactly what we 
can point to with some costly 
mistakes.”
It 
was 
an 
important 
weekend for Michigan. A team 
that has been high on itself was 
grounded. It can hit the reset 
button with this gut check. 
The Wolverines saw what they 
thought they were and saw 
they had a long way to go.
The timing of the measuring 
stick, 
though, 
is 
key 
for 
Michigan. It’s March instead 
of June, and the Wolverines 
have time to learn and reach 
their potential.
“I haven’t lost a single ounce 
of confidence in our team,” 
Bakich said. “And what type 
of team that we’re going to 
have this year as the season 
continues.”

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers dunked on Andrew Nembhard Saturday.

I’ve gotten 
dunked on 
by him six or 
seven times.

If you stick 
it out all four 
years, you will 
be a champion.

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich said that the Michigan baseball team got exposed against Texas Tech last weekend.

