Larson proves to be cut above for UW crew

This is the way college athletics ought to work, when academics come first, when hard work and not politics or reputation translates into opportunity.

Kyle Larson was cut from the basketball team at Mount Vernon High School during his senior year. It could have devastated him — probably did — because basketball is king at Mount Vernon and the team he didn't play for won a state championship.

But Larson left the gym and headed straight for the pool, unwilling to give up on athletics or himself.

He didn't distinguish himself in swimming, but he did in the classroom, a 3.93 student who would go to Washington on various academic scholarships to study architecture.

Athletics could have been a thing of the past.

Of course, it's history now that Larson, a sophomore, is sitting in the No. 3 seat on a Washington crew that is ranked No. 2 in the country, and yesterday won its first heat in the IRA Championships in Camden, N.J., easily turning back Brown.

Larson was the oarsman inserted into the boat after it lost on Montlake to California in April, who helped pull the Huskies to the Pac-10 championship with a win over Cal, who is a throw-back rower, one of the Scandinavian tall timbers of yesteryear who wandered down to the boat house unannounced.

As it is, Larson is one of three rowers in the UW varsity that hadn't rowed a stroke before college: Sam Burns, a track guy from O'Dea, and Brett Newlin, a 6-foot-8 monster from Wyoming, the others.

"For a second-year rower to be rowing in a boat going as fast as this one is remarkable," said UW men's coach Bob Ernst. "But then Kyle is obviously someone who wanted to be great at something and is clearly driven to do it."

For a guy who couldn't make his high-school basketball team, Larson is a national-class athlete.

"There absolutely hasn't been an IRA championship like this one in the time I've been at Washington," said Ernst, who has been at Washington nearly 30 years.

"Harvard has its best team in 15 years, so does Wisconsin. Cal has four Olympians in its boat and is the defending champion, and our boat has incredible size and power and almost no experience (there is one senior rower in the boat). If you ever wanted to be a part of the big-time intercollegiate athletic scene, this is it."

Harvard usually finds a reason not to compete in the IRA. But this year the Crimson beat Wisconsin at the Eastern Sprints and joined the fray as the No. 1 seed. During the year, third-seeded Wisconsin beat second-seeded Washington in Madison. Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Cal won two of three races against the Huskies, albeit not the last one.

Last year, as a freshman, Larson finally made it into the No. 1 freshman boat that won the IRA. But this season is something else.

"We think about it a lot," Larson said of the celebration this year of 100 years of Washington rowing. "Trying to win a national championship in what has become a very special year, hanging around the hotel, it's all very exciting for me."

When Larson headed for Seattle, he had no idea that he'd end up rowing. He wanted to concentrate on school, but also wanted to be a well-rounded student. He was looking for an activity.

"I actually found the rowing roster on the Internet," he said, "and most of the guys were about my size. I just figured it was something I would try. I wanted to stay busy, and I wanted to stay fit."

Last summer, he rode his bike from Mount Vernon to Anacortes, where he worked at the Shell oil refinery.

Biking and running every day, he may have gotten more accomplished than those who decided to row all summer.

Ernst tells about the Friday Larson had off and came to the crew house where he eventually ended up rowing in a pair with former world-class rower Phil Henry.

"When they came back in, I asked Phil what he thought about Kyle," Ernst said, "and he said, 'Wow!' I'd start rowing over again if I could row with him. He's a natural.' "

Larson was 6-4 in high school. But he also has beefed up to 220 pounds and found his place in a UW eight that is as powerful as any before it.

"I just wasn't really good at anything in high school, but I never wanted to quit sports just because I wasn't," he said. "What I've found is that in rowing your success has more to do with how hard you work than in other sports.

"When I look back at it now, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed basketball that much because I would have played so little. I was doing it because that's what you do in Mount Vernon."

Now he's doing what you do at Washington, and doing it extremely well.

Blaine Newnham: 206-464-2364 or bnewnham@seattletimes.com