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For all that can be said about rower Chelsea Semrau, it is freshman coxswain Erin DeGoede who said it best. “She’s amazing,” DeGoede said. “To do what she has done in any sport is amazing.”

Semrau, who primarily rows in the two-seat or the four-seat , recently made her way up the rowing ladder all the way to the big show – the varsity eight. That may seem like a natural progression for any rower, until you realize that Semrau is a freshman walk-on who never rowed before this year.

She is the first freshman to achieve the feat since 2002-03, a year in which the rowing team was in a rebuilding phase. Now, as the varsity eight has become a perennial power, Semrau joins the talented squad.

Semrau, a 19-year-old Escondido native, was drawn to the sport at freshman orientation at Sacramento State last year.

“I didn’t think I would play sports in college, but I decided to try it when I saw the rowing booth at orientation,” she said.

Though she did not initially intend to play sports at Sac State, she is no stranger to athletic competition. She was a three-sport star at Valley Center High School in San Diego, where she competed on the school’s swim team as well as the basketball and track teams.

She admits it is her swimming background that made the transition to rowing a bit easier. “Sometimes it’s hard getting up at five in the morning, but I’m used to it from swimming,” she said. “The cardio from swimming helped a lot too.”

To combat the early hours and strenuous practices, Semrau said she goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. and that she “sleeps all day Sunday.”

Of her ascension to the varsity eight, Semrau is still a bit shell shocked. “I was worried when I started that I might not even get a full-time seat on one of the novice boats,” she said. “Things just keep getting better for me.”

It was the encouragement of her veteran teammates that made her meteoric rise complete. “The girls have been so amazing. It’s a really positive environment. I’m just trying to prove I belong here.”

DeGoede knows that it isn’t just Semrau’s swimming background and the support of teammates that has helped her. She sees how hard Semrau works. “She’s really diligent,” DeGoede said. “We always tease her for eating right, and we always catch her running. She always does more than is required.”

Junior rower Nicole Cavanagh has been impressed with Semrau’s growth as well. “For how small she is, she is really impressive,” Cavanagh said of the five-foot-nine Semrau. “She outperforms her size.”

As one of the veterans on the team, Cavanagh makes sure that she respects how hard Semrau works and how much she has improved. “We’re buddies,” she said.

“All the varsity respects her for how much she has improved.” Cavanagh added, “It’s hard to reach her level in the amount of time she’s being doing it. She’s pulling better times than some of the vets.”

Coach Mike Connors saw early on that Semrau had the potential to be something special.

“She put up good numbers on the ergometer (an apparatus rowers use to practice outside the water),” he said, “She shows a lot of maturity. Some novices can’t pace themselves and they start out too quickly and burn out. She finishes faster than she starts.”

Connors knows that her talent did not appear out of nowhere. “She’s already programmed to work on a team like this,” he said. “She’s used to starting early from her days as a swimmer, so that helped her.”

There is no guarantee that Semrau will stay in the varsity eight, and it is up to her to prove that she belongs. Whatever the outcome, her intentions are clear. “No matter where I am, I am going to try as hard as I can,” she said. Benn Hodapp can be reached at [email protected]