Washington Rowing is rich in tradition. From George Pocock and Hiram Conibear, through innumerable championships and Olympic regattas to the present-day successes, the UW men's and women's programs have plenty of reason to be proud.
 
One thread that has run through those successes throughout history is how the UW women's program has taken young women, frequently from within the state of Washington, with no prior experience in the sport and molded them into elite rowers. In fact, Huskies with that pedigree have won medals in each of the last five Olympiads: Anna Mickelson Cummins (silver in 2004; gold in 2008); Adrienne Martelli and Megan Kalmoe (both won bronze in 2012) and Kerry Simmonds (gold in 2016).
 
And that's just to name a few. Each year, the Huskies' top boats include several walk-ons – women who succeeded in other sports in high school and who had the type of physical and mental makeup to excel at rowing.
 
Right now at Conibear Shellhouse, the process of teaching new rowers is underway as the coaching staff has a good group of invited walk-ons and are also having a look at an even larger group of freshmen students that have come on their own to see if they've got what it takes.
 
What's different this year is that the UW women's team's first official "Hometown Husky" has arrived. Her name is Hallie Jensen and she's a 6-foot-2 former basketball, volleyball, tennis, track and cross country athlete from Lakeside High School outside of Spokane.
 
Last year, the UW women's coaching staff hatched the idea of awarding a tuition scholarship to one, in-state high school senior with no prior experience in rowing.
 
"We wanted to put a carrot out there to try and attract a lot of people," explained UW assistant coach Josh Gautreau, who headed up the program in its first year. "We want to put our money where our mouth is. We say that we want to prioritize in-state kids and walk-ons and we want to keep that tradition alive in rowing. It's been kind of dwindling nationwide, but it's been a part of what's made Washington good forever. We want to invest in this, and not just with words, but with actions and funds."
 
The UW staff put the word out to high school athletic directors across the state and invited a number of candidates to campus. And, out of a pool of several very strong candidates, Jensen was named the inaugural winner of the scholarship.
 
A standout in several other sports at Lakeside, she first began to consider rowing when she was initially approached by another school's coaches.
 
"I first knew about rowing because another school approached me about it my junior year of cross country," she recalls. "And then I got in contact with a coach from UW, who came to my cross country meet during my senior year. Then I came on a visit."
 
On that visit, Gautreau was sold, for a number of reasons, both obvious and subtle.
 
" First, she is 6-foot-2 and runs a 5:30 mile, so it's really obvious that she has a big engine. That was really clear to us," Gautreau says.
 
"But also, when she came on her official visit with us, we were doing 2k pieces in fours and she could recite all the times that the boats were doing right after each piece, because she was timing them on her own watch," He continues. "I turned around and she said, 'they went faster on that one,' and I asked, 'how did you know that?' She said, 'I'm keeping track of everybody.' I thought, 'wow, this girl is a competitor!' She doesn't even know rowing and she's already timing them and trying to size up the competition. She's a special-minded, competitive athlete."
 
The new class of Huskies rowers, both the experienced and the walkons, have only been on campus for about two weeks, so the process is just getting started. But even in the early-going, Jensen has been impressed.
 
"I feel so lucky that I get to be here," she says. "They believe in me as an athlete and that I can develop and be as good as the potential they see in me. It's going to be a really amazing experience."
 
She and her fellow freshmen have a lot to learn, both in terms of the technical aspects of the sport and also in the traditions that make UW rowing special.
 
"I've learned that I really love it," Jensen says of her time at the UW thusfar. "I like to challenge myself in new ways. I used to think that cross country was the hardest sport, but rowing definitely tops that. The whole team aspect is really fun because everyone is there for each other. I like all of it."
 
In 2018-19, the walkons, and the Hometown Huskies program, will be directed by UW assistant coach Maggie Phillips, who was an intern coach last season and was promoted into a full-time role for this year.
 
Phllips, from Stanwood, Wash., is herself an excellent example of what a Hometown Husky should be. An accomplished equestrienne prior to college, she walked on to the rowing team and capped her career as the captain of Washington's 2017 NCAA Championship team, rowing in the second varsity eight that played its part in sweeping all three grand finals.
 
"There was no 'Hometown Huskies' program when Maggie was around," Gautreau says, "but she's the epitome of what we'd want in a Hometown Husky."
 
For her part, Phillips is excited to get things rolling with this new group of athletes.
 
"It's a really strong, energetic group," she says of the new group of walkons. "We started with eight, but we're in the midst of our on-campus recruiting and there are at least 40 more in the mix."

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Interested in the Hometown Husky program for the 2019-2020 school year, or do you know a senior from a high school in the state of Washington who might make a good candidate? Fill out one of the following two forms (or send to a coach, AD, teacher or student):

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