2025 STANFORD MEN'S CREW SENIOR PERSPECTIVE
Offered by SMC '25 Coxswain Noah Tan on behalf of true seniors Logan Morley and James Fetter, and their adopted SMC graduate 5th year brothers Max Shakespeare and Adrien Richez.
While the stories of those who pursue Division 1 athletics are never linear, the story of our class is undoubtedly more circuitous. Most student-athletes at Stanford began their stories here with the traditional “I am happy to share that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career” announcement. In contrast, if just over four years ago you had asked any of us what we would be doing in college, we would not have answered with “rowing at Stanford.”
Logan Morley, a coxswain from Los Gatos, California, begrudgingly applied to Stanford because his parents insisted on it. “Somehow in the days between pressing submit and opening my acceptance letter, I fell in love with Stanford,” he said, “Even then, I didn’t know that I’d be rowing here.” At that point, as we all know, the Stanford Men’s team didn’t exist.
James Fetter, a former swimmer from Palo Alto, was keen to go to Stanford to be closer to home during the uncertainty of COVID. His older sister, Mary, was also at Stanford and had recently walked on to the rowing team. During this time, he shared, “I figured I would join the cycling or the triathlon club and focus on my academics. When I heard that Stanford was reinstating the team, I was excited because the team was missing a whole recruiting class, so even if I was a terrible rower, they would happily take me.”
Noah Tan had coxed in high school and was in the early stages of recruitment to Stanford Men’s rowing when the school shut down during the pandemic, and the team was later cut. “At first, I thought that my recruiting hopes were dashed, as universities closed and coaches went silent.” However, after being admitted to Stanford, he got in touch with a former teammate of his who now rowed for the Stanford Men’s team, Henry Stewart, who offered to set up a Zoom meeting with whoever was available on the team. “I expected three or four people to show up,” Tan recounted, “Practically the entire team hopped on to talk to me. That spoke volumes to me.” At first, it was lonely; he was the only frosh on the team for a few months. But Tan was soon joined by Fetter and Morley, who have since become some of his closest friends.
We walked on after completing full athletic careers at other programs. And because of the work of our predecessors in reinstating the team, we have been first-hand observers of and participants in this program’s regrowth. Our contributions were not massive strides but small, incremental steps taken day in and day out. The coaching staff has said our class exemplifies grit: we showed up every day ready to do our jobs even if it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. If taking in the slings or washing the heart rate monitor straps helped the team to get faster, then there was a job to do. Simple as that.
At the beginning of the 2024—2025 season, our class was complemented by the addition of two graduate students, Max Shakespeare and Adrien Richez. Max had previously rowed for Harvard College, and Adrien for the U.S. Naval Academy.
As there were only three seniors on the team, Max and Adrien were very helpful in bringing maturity and experience to a relatively young team. It was a bit of a learning curve, according to Shakespeare: “It’s strange to be at the top of a program without having spent any time in a program. As a senior, you know a program inside out. You’ve done your time. You warrant respect and authority. As a grad transfer, you’re about as experienced in the culture you find yourself in as people six years your junior. Oftentimes, I feel like I speak a different language. It’s been humbling. I’ve watched [the team] closely and learned a huge amount.”
To this class, rowing is a sport where you get out what you put in. That’s what attracts many people to rowing. You work hard, you’ll see consistent improvement. An improvement with a more linear relationship to effort than exists, perhaps in any sport. That cultivates honest athletes. You can’t really cheat in this sport. You can’t really do well without putting in the work. And the work is tough. Bloody tough. “Eight-man crew is the most difficult team sport in the world. The average human body is just not meant for such things.” You might remember from Boys in the Boat. However, the Class of 2025 has seen what can be accomplished when you combine less-than-average circumstances with a not-so-average team of incredibly hard-working individuals, ones that come together to exceed the sum of their parts.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen our team go from the C-final to pushing to make the grand final. In the not-so-distant future, we hope to see our full fleet of boats — three eights and a four — all racing for a national championship. We’d like to end on a quote that Coach Sobolewski always brings up: “Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.” We have been so fortunate to have been granted the opportunity to contribute to this ever-rising standard of excellence, and its lessons will permeate every facet of our lives going forward. Thank you, Stanford Rowing. Go Card!
With gratitude,
The Stanford Men’s Rowing Class of 2025
“If you want to innovate, seek out places that languish in the routine: there will be a place for you there,” Tan told his classmates. “If you want to have purpose, seek out places that lack direction: there will be a place for you there. And lastly, when you open new doors, hold them open for the people behind you. As our friends and mentors have created a place for us here, my wish is for us to go out and do that for others.”
Noah Hao-Lin Tan, SMC Coxswain ‘25
Prof. Alexander Nemerov (center) and senior Noah Hao-Lin Tan (left) addressed Stanford ’25 graduates at this year’s Baccalaureate ceremony in Frost Amphitheater, much to the enjoyment of President Jon Levin (right). (Photo credit: Andrew Brodhead)
