'Rowing is my passion.' Audrey Leurck grateful for U.S. National Rowing Team experience

When St. Ursula senior Audrey Leurck began rowing for the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club in spring 2021, she couldn't have imagined the sport would take her to Florida, California, and even France as part of the Under-19 U.S. National Rowing Team.

In her words, she had "played pretty much every other sport under the sun" and decided to take up rowing through the influence of her family and friends.

Being in a boat on the water has become a major part of her life. In just two and a half years, rowing has given Leurck a sense of discipline and memories that will last a lifetime.

"Rowing is my passion. Without that love for the sport, I wouldn't be the rower I am. I wouldn't have the drive that I do," Leurck said.

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Gaining experience on the road to Paris

Leurck mostly rows in four- and eight-person shells, which are boats where each rower has only one oar. She enjoys the fours because, with fewer people in the boat, it gives her an opportunity to assess and improve her own technique. But she prefers the eights because of the power she feels with each stroke and the sense of community from being in a boat with eight other people, coxswain included.

When Leurck received the news that she would be in the women's eight boat at the World Rowing Championships in Paris, she described the moment as "insane."

"It was unreal because I never expected rowing to take me as far as it has," Leurck said. "Not only was it exciting to hear that I made the U.S. National Team, but it was almost a sense of relief that all this work I've been putting in is finally paying off."

She is extremely grateful for the opportunities that rowing has given her, but she knows they are the result of hard work. Making the U.S. National Team is Leurck's biggest accomplishment on paper, but she said the practices and time spent with her teammates mean just as much because that is what got her to where she is.

At the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, Leurck thrived in a new environment. The team trained twice a day, six days a week. Despite being with the CJRC for over two years, what she learned about her form and how to get the most out of her stroke increased her knowledge bank three-fold. Her favorite part about her summer travels was being able to focus solely on one aspect of her life.

"It was a really interesting experience knowing that I really knew so little going into it, and I definitely learned two or three times the knowledge that I had," Leurck said.

Even before their arrival in Paris, the United States had high expectations after winning the women's eight race the previous two years. Each of the other six countries knew the United States was the defending champion, leading them to add more talent to their women's eight boats than in previous years.

"We were all very excited, very confident in our ability, and I think every other team out there was feeling that as well," Leurck said.

The high expectations may have affected the United States in their first race, where they finished third behind Romania and Great Britain. They knew they were still a strong team and proved it by beating eventual champion Great Britain in the repechage, or second-chance, round to secure their place in the final.

Taking pride in her roots

Leurck wasn't alone in her travels to California. Teammate Angeline DiPaola also made the trip to the Olympic Training Center to help the national team train for Paris. Two of her St. Ursula classmates, Callie VonderHaar and Lucy McGee, were also in the boat that won a gold medal at the Midwest Junior Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida.

"It definitely meant a lot having that support system going into Chula (Vista). I definitely wouldn't be the rower I am without all the people I row with in the first varsity boat," Leurck said.

Leurck was just one of just three women from the Midwest who made the 31-woman roster for the World Championships. In a sport that can be dominated by athletes from the east and west coasts, she didn't take her selection for granted.

"Being able to represent CJRC and SUA all at once on such a worldwide stage, it meant a lot to me, for sure," Leurck said.

Motivation borne out of disappointment

Going into the final race in Paris, Leurck and her teammates knew it would be a tough race from what they had seen in the previous rounds.

The United States started well in the final, but the 2-kilometer race came down to the final 500 meters. The top four teams were separated at the finish by just 0.24 seconds with the United States drawing the short stick, missing the podium by a tenth of a second.

"That has just made me want to work so much harder, to push even harder to hopefully make the U.S. National Team again in coming years," Leurck said of the result.

Since Leurck is a senior and will age out of the U-19 team, her next goal is to make the U-23 team during her college career. She plans on announcing her college decision in October. Her biggest goal is to make the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the first summer games in the United States since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

"It's going to be the hardest four years of my life working toward that, but I have the motivation, the drive and the devotion that I need to reach that goal," Leurck said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: St. Ursula's Audrey Leurck thankful for National Rowing Team exposure