I’m a junior in high school and I am starting to look at colleges. I am 5’3 and around 125 pounds. I currently row and would like to continue into college. Is it more realistic for me to try to row lightweight or maybe cox for a men’s team? Thanks!

This is one of the rare cases where one option isn’t necessarily more realistic than the other. They’re both equal in that respect but my initial thought is to say look into coxing because I think you’d have more opportunities (and options) if you pursued that over rowing (and you’re the perfect size for it). I spent some time though going through the roster lists of a couple of the lightweight programs across the country and just based on that small sample size, you could probably row lightweight if you wanted since your height matches (or in some cases, is taller than…) some of the rowers already on the team.

If the schools you’re interested in have a lightweight program or have at least fielded a lightweight 8+ in the last 2-3 years (with decent results), contact the coach. Same goes for men’s programs as well. Like I said, I think you’ll have more options if you choose to cox for a men’s team but you could easily do both depending on what the schools you’re looking at offer.