From walk-on to first varsity

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Prior to her freshman year in college, Paige Guggenbiller had never rowed competitively.

While she had been paddle boarding once, she had never picked up an oar at all.

She had been in the water for the Fort Recovery High School swim team, making it all the way to the state tournament. She also advanced to state as part of a relay for the Indians’ track team and played middle blocker for the volleyball team that went 17-7.

The athleticism she displayed in high school was enough to spur swim coach Mindy Bubp to suggest she join the Ohio State University women’s rowing team.

After competing on the novice boats for a majority of the season, the door opened for the former Indian to make her varsity debut as a Buckeye.

Guggenbiller, a walk-on, got promoted to No. 17 Ohio State’s first varsity 8 boat for the Big Ten Championships at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis on May 18 to help the Buckeyes to a fifth-place finish, earning her a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team.

“The only thing that comes to mind is, it completely shattered any expectation I had coming in,” Guggenbiller said. “To be able to do what I did, I feel like it’s fate and I was given this opportunity, almost last minute for a reason and I will do everything in my power to take full advantage of every opportunity that comes my way.”

Because of Guggenbiller’s lack of experience, she started the year on a novice boat, which is intended for first-year rowers to compete against athletes with similar experience levels while learning the sport.

She got a small taste of varsity during the winter when the Buckeyes went on a training trip.

Throughout the season the novice crews performed well, while the varsity boats weren’t quite meeting Ohio State’s standards. After a particularly rough competition at No. 6 Princeton — fifth-ranked Tennessee and No. 10 Syracuse were also there — first-year head coach Emily Gackowski decided to make a change.

She turned to Guggenbiller.

“It’s pretty extraordinary,” Gackowski said. “It is extremely rare for walk on to make the first varsity eight in their first year, and part of that is because the rest of the team shouldn't really allow that.

“Even if someone is as fast as Paige … her rowing should have kept her out of there from a technical and skills perspective. But Paige was a quick learner and obviously very fast and the rest of the team wasn’t in a position to fend her off.”

With the switch, Guggenbiller got promoted to the second varsity 8 boat just three weeks ahead of the Big Ten Championships. Two days later, the Buckeyes had a practice with seat racing — having boats compete against each other multiple times with slight changes to maximize efficiency. Guggenbiller earned herself a spot in the top eight.

“I was kind of reflecting on the (commitment story) from last year and I said something along the words of, ‘I have no experience but I’m not scared about it,’” Guggenbiller said. “That’s exactly how I had to attack this season to do how I did. I had to just go out there and do my best 24/7 and see where it could get me and it led me here.”

For a majority of her time on the varsity boat, Guggenbiller sat in the fourth seat, but was moved to the sixth for the Big Ten Championship. In an eight-man boat, the two seats nearest the stern (back) set the pace, while the third through sixth seats provide the power. The No. 1 and 2 seats are more focused on keeping the boat stable and straight.

On May 17, the Buckeyes’ first varsity 8 boat finished third in the opening heat with a time of 6 minutes, 39.497 seconds, to place third in the heat and qualify for the grand final on Sunday. (The top six teams competed in the grand final, while the other six schools were in the petite final.)

The Ohio State boat couldn’t climb up any seeds as it finished sixth with a time of 6:21.123.

“During the race, most rowers say they black out,” Guggenbiller said. “Racing as a walk-on next to gold-medalist Olympians really put me in a stage of indescribable fight or flight. But because of these test pieces we did I feel like I was prepared. … So, I told myself that everything I had to do to be successful in this race was everything I had already done, and that's what helped calm these nerves.”

The Buckeyes finished fifth overall with 135 points, while Washington, a newcomer after conference realignment, claimed the Big Ten title with 264.

Thanks to her performance in the conference championship races, Guggenbiller was one of nine athletes to make the Big Ten All-Freshman team. While not listed, Guggenbiller is likely the only walk-on to have received the honor this season as the recognition typically goes to rowers with more experience.

“Looking at the list, all of these girls are either international rowers, meaning they’ve rowed for their home country beforehand, or have rowed for clubs in (the United States),” Guggenbiller said. “Being the only walk-on on that list represents a belief in my abilities. The conference’s coaches believe in me at a level I didn’t even know possible yet. I’ve just entered this rowing community and to be recognized at this level has overwhelmed me with gratitude.”

While spots in the varsity boats will continue to remain competitive, Guggenbiller’s success as a freshman is promising for the Buckeyes’ future as she and Lilly Leopard (another walk-on who made the first varsity 4 boat) will look to help Ohio State get back to winning conference titles.

“Paige and her teammate Lilly both started with no experience at all and they are, I think, the third and fourth fastest people on the team and that’s unheard of,” Gackowski said. “From my perspective, I’m really excited to work with them again and I’m really excited to keep building on what they learned this year because the youth there is amazing.

“As we move into next year, I’m really excited for those two to be leaders for our freshmen and really set the tone because we want people like that to drive the culture of the team forward and help us win a Big Ten championship in the future.”