The familiar voice of Kacy Jo Peek guides the women's varsity team of the Texas Crew past the finish line race after race. The 20-year-old Plan II senior from Keller is the coxswain, or as she aptly puts it, "the eyes, the ears and the mouth" of the team.
Steering a handful of determined rowers is not an easy job, and Peek has been doing it since her first semester at UT in 2005.
"This is my sixth semester of rowing, but I never did it in high school or before that," Peek said. "I had some friends who went to private schools and they actually suggested that I get into rowing when I go to college."
Established in 1969, the Texas Crew has both men's and women's varsity and novice teams. They compete in fall and spring semester events held across the country.
"Our entire club typically has 70 to 100 members, and the varsity women's squad, which I am a part of, has 15 people," Peek said. "Our main boat has about eight rowers and a coxswain, and there are four-person and paired boats as well."
Peek also said that the sport is very elegant.
"Plus, [it's] very team-oriented, because in collegiate rowing you are always rowing with another person," Peek said. "I like this aspect of it. It's about you with respect to your team and not just about you as an individual."
Women's rowing is an NCAA-recognized sport, but the Texas Crew is a club that gets most of its funding from RecSports and some from fundraising. This is one of the challenges that the team faces, since the boats and equipment are very expensive.
"We get some funding from RecSports, which is great and helpful," Peek said. "But we have a limited budget for the equipment we use. The boats can cost up to $30,000 a piece. So, being a student and fund raising is
very difficult."
Despite this, Peek and her teammates have fared very well this year. The women's varsity team placed 10th in the Collegiate Fours Women category at the Head of the Charles Regatta, which is held in Boston and is one of the biggest rowing events on the collegiate calendar.
"That was a really great highlight for us," Peek said. "Our eight- and four-person boats also won in their categories at the Head of the Hooch, which is the biggest regatta in the south. This has been the coolest semester so far."
Along with being the vice president of the club, Peek is also in charge of recruiting new rowers at the beginning of each semester.
"We recruit each year for about a week or week and a half," Peek said. "We pretty much encourage anyone who is into some kind of sporting activity and is physically fit to join us. Our motto really is if you wanna row, we want you to row."
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