Eight years ago, Kyle McKenney would’ve never guessed he’d end up rowing for Syracuse.

Eight years ago, he suffered his third concussion while playing basketball. Doctors told McKenney that he needed to stop playing contact sports, leaving him with few options.

“We thought, well, how about tennis? How about swimming?” said Lynnda McKenney, Kyle’s mother.

McKenney had other ideas. He lived on Lake Sammamish in Woodinville, Washington. His friends had just joined Sammamish Rowing Association, a private program, and he thought he’d give it a try.

Eight years later, McKenney, a junior, is one of Syracuse’s top rowers. He shifts around on the first varsity eight boat, a role he filled in the spring. Needing a sport to salvage his athletic career in eighth grade, McKenney has made the most of his talents.

“I liked being better than the guy next to you, always seeing where the other boat is and knowing that you could make your boat go a little further than the other guy,” McKenney said.

Although rowing is becoming more popular, McKenney said, his parents weren’t completely sold on its unconventional aspects.

“Especially when I started wearing spandex,” said McKenney. “They weren’t used to it. We’re a baseball family. I just got hit too many times that I had to start wearing the spandex.”

McKenney would become a member of Sammamish’s high school men’s boat, leading his team to second-place finish in a competition at the Head of the Charles in Boston in 2012. He began hearing from multiple colleges, one being the University of Washington.

At the time, it seemed like a good fit. Three out of Washington’s five coxswains are from Sammamish. With the close connections between the two organizations, McKenney’s mind was made up.

“That’s where I was going to go because that’s what I could afford and what I really wanted to do,” he said.

In the winter, Shawn Bagnall, then-assistant men’s rowing coach at Syracuse, met with McKenney. He had barely heard of Syracuse, but as he looked more into it, he started to consider the school seriously.

McKenney first visited SU in March 2013, where he was sold by the expertise and style of men’s rowing head coach, Dave Reischman.

“When he’s watching your stroke, he can tell what needs to be changed, and he says it in a way that can hit home for me and make those types of changes quickly,” said McKenney.

The quality of the school, along with a scholarship, swayed McKenney into choosing Syracuse over Washington. He chose a path that he believes will result in greater, long-term success.

“We think kids who want to come to Syracuse want something different,” said Syracuse men’s rowing head coach Dave Reischman. “Kyle is the ideal kid we try to recruit.”

Published on September 30, 2015 at 9:12 pm

Contact Chris: cfthomse@syr.edu