Houston Sooner Keeping "Oar In The Water"

By day, OU Club of Houston member Brooke Sheppard is a financial analyst for BP. By night--and sometimes on weekends--Brooke is an instructor at a fitness facility in the West University area. ROW Studio is the first of its kind in Houston, and as the name suggests, ROW specializes in the high-intensity, low-impact fitness alternative of stationary rowing.

ROW Studio opened in the spring and the timing couldn't have been more perfect for Brooke. In fact, when it comes to rowing, Brooke seems to always be in the right place at the right time.

Brooke is a 2012 graduate of the OU Price College of Business. She earned a National Merit Scholarship to OU. At Lawton Eisenhower High School she swam and ran track. She hoped to earn a spot on the OU women's track and field team, but another opportunity came her way. After arriving in Norman, Brooke caught the eye of Coach Leanne Crain, who had been charged to launch OU's intercollegiate rowing program. A former member of the U.S. National Team herself, Crain knew she'd find few experienced rowers on the Norman campus.

Finding interested athletes turned out to be easy.Brooke Sheppard turned out to be one of OU Rowing's very first recruits. By her senior season in 2011-12, Brooke was captain of the Sooner team, a squad that missed winning the Big XII championship by one point.

We asked Brooke a few questions about her rowing career at Oklahoma.

Q. How did you get into rowing?

I had been recruited to OU for track & field, but the new coach had some great recruits and I didn't quite make the cut to get a scholarship. (OU Rowing) Coach Leeanne Crain got my application from the track coach and saw that I was 6 feet tall so she gave me a call and asked if I wanted to row. I didn't know much about rowing, but I loved sports and I was excited to have the chance to try out on the first-year team.

Q. What's the history of the OU rowing team?

The OU Rowing team got started in 2008 with its first novice class. Rowers are called novices the first year they compete, and it is the only NCAA sport where novices only compete against other novices. Its set up that way so you can take walk-ons and easily teach them about rowing before they have to compete at a varsity level with girls who have rowed for several years. Yes, you can call us a rowing team or crew. (Note: at OU, the men's rowing program remains a club sport and is officially called "OU Crew." The OU women's rowing team competes intercollegiately and is a part of the Big XII conference and also competes in Conference USA.)

Q. When is the rowing season? Where does the team practice? Where does the team compete? What were the team's top accomplishments during your four years at OU? What were your top accomplishments?

We have two seasons--fall and spring. The fall is called "Head" racing, because you race long distances from the head of the river, usually 5000-6000 meters, or three to four miles. The courses are long and curvy and the boats do a shotgun start, so you have to pass anyone slower in front of you. In the spring, we have sprint season. six to eight boats line up next to each other and start all together, like a 100 meter sprint on a track would start. Its much higher paced, and the distance is 2000 meters, or 1.25 miles. The crews will race all out for six to eight minutes and finish within inches of each other.

Our team went to races all over the country, from Seattle to Austin to Boston. We traveled to wherever the water is, so there's not much locally. We practiced on the Oklahoma River in downtown OKC. The river was started by the MAPS project and is a portion of the North Canadian River that was dammed off for rowing. It has become an Olympic and Paralympic training center and some of the best rowers in the nation practice there at the Chesapeake and Devon boathouses.

Our biggest accomplishments include being ranked 19th nationally and winning three of four races at the 2012 Big XII Championship. We qualified for the Conference C-USA Championships and placed 2nd in that race. Our boats were recognized several times as C-USA Boats of the Week and US Rowing Crew of the Week.

Since rowing is a team sport, there's not much recognition for individuals, but I was chosen as an All-Conference Scholar Athlete and attended the US National Camp for Freshman after my Freshman year of rowing. I served as Team Captain my senior year.

Q. How did the experience of being on the OU rowing team change your life?

Being on the team made me a much better student than I think I could have been otherwise. It challenged me to spend my time in college doing the things I loved and scheduling in enough time for studying, training, and resting. I was more dedicated and focused on school and rowing thanks to the great resources we had in the Athletic Department and the constant encouragement from coaches.

Rowing is called the ultimate team sport, and it taught me so much about teamwork and training together for a shared goal. I learned how to push myself harder than ever before because someone was depending on me to achieve their goals, and I never wanted to let my teammates down. I think pushing myself hard at rowing made me realize that I can often do more than I think I'm capable of doing, so even now when I face an obstacle I just remember my toughest races and practices and I know that I can get through anything!

Q. What are you doing now in your job and outside of work?

I currently work for BP as a Financial Analyst. Outside of my day job, I coach indoor rowing at ROW Studios in Houston. Its a new gym focused on using rowing as a means of cardio and strength training. We work to help people have a low impact workout and realize the whole body benefits of rowing. (Note; See Brooke's page on the ROW site here.

Q. Why did you join The OU Club of Houston?

I have a few friends from the OU Business School that I graduated with that told me about the club and how there are happy hours and watch parties. I think its a great way to meet new people and get to watch OU games when I can't make it back to Norman.