Drexel rowers are also runners, swimmers, basketball and soccer players, etc.
These multi-sport stars are looking ahead to the weekend's Dad Vail Regatta
When he arrived at Drexel for freshman orientation, Pennridge High School graduate Joe Masgai had no idea he would become a rower, much less a team captain and someone who has been described by his coach as "one of the toughest guys on the team."
But that's what happened after Paul Savell, the Dragons' director of rowing, stopped Masgai at the university's recreation center.
"They kind of profile tall, athletic-built people," said Masgai, who starred in track and soccer at Pennridge, "so he targeted me and asked if I was interested in rowing. He put it like, 'You have the build for the sport. You did well in track, so you might have the skillset to be successful in rowing if you put in the hard work.' "
He did, and Masgai, a senior, now is a key member of the varsity eight boat that will try to help Drexel win its fifth consecutive overall team title at the Dad Vail Regatta, which begins its two days of competition Friday on the Schuylkill.
Masgai isn't the only man to go to Drexel without ever having rowed and become a contributor. Junior Boru Yenen and senior Will Cartwright played high school basketball before being introduced to the sport and row in the second varsity eight. Sophomore Bryce Rosicky, who ran track and cross country, competes with Masgai in the varsity eight.
"Not every high school has rowing, so we're just looking for good athletes, and we'll teach them how to row," Savell said. "Usually we have a lot of success with runners, swimmers, that kind of stuff. If you're an athlete, you're an athlete, and we'll take you.
"It takes a lot of miles to get good at it, but if you start with an athletic body and an athletic mind, then you're way ahead of the game."
Savell has his scouts out on campus trying to find the right type. Yenen, who is from Turkey, was spotted by rowing team member Louis Masi, who was in his business class. The 6-foot-7 Cartwright was approached at his freshman orientation by then-assistant coach David Florio.
Cartwright, whose brother, Andrew, is a sophomore on the Dragons' basketball team, said when Savell first started speaking with him, "I thought he was talking up a lot of nonsense.
"I never heard of rowing. I never even thought about it," he said. "But he talked to me and really convinced me to try rowing. So I came back for freshman year, started rowing and fell in love with it."
Members of the women's crew team did not follow the same path as some of their male counterparts, but many starred in other sports in high school.
Lower Merion graduate Marina Forster began competitive swimming at 8 but was persuaded during her sophomore year to try rowing and got hooked. So did junior Erin Archibald, a high school basketball player in the Boston area who stuck with rowing her last two years, and junior Paige Propp, daughter of former Flyers star Brian Propp, who played ice hockey at Bishop Eustace and rowed.
"From the moment I knew I was going to go to college for rowing was the moment I knew I was going to dedicate my life to it," said Forster, a senior. "This is something that I absolutely fell head over heels with. I have never experienced anything more exhilarating than rowing."
The 6-foot-5 Yenen, who is from Istanbul, came to the United States after high school to play basketball, walked on at Drexel as a practice player but did not dress. Midway through his freshman year, he was urged by his classmate to try rowing, which he said he had never heard of before.
Yenen discovered before too long that "basketball is a contact sport, and rowing is non-contact, but rowing hurts a lot more." Now there is no place he'd rather be than on the river.
"Being in the boat with eight other guys and sharing that effort and pain, I've always loved it," he said. "You're not pulling yourself but for each other. You have to be synchronized. Everybody has to give the same character, the same effort."
Masgai's background in sports has helped him in more ways than just physical talent. Being a two-year captain of Pennridge's soccer team taught him how to be a leader, and he also learned a lot running track.
"I had a really good high school track coach, and he taught us discipline and doing things right," he said. "So I think the combination of discipline and leadership was really conducive to success in rowing."
That's been the case for the others recruited by Savell once they got on campus, being part of a team that hopes to continue its success this weekend at the Dad Vail.
"They don't like to lose anything," he said. "You want a guy that just won't lose. The more you compete in anything, the more you have to get up there, get nervous and funnel all your energy. So I think that's just a good experience."
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