“I knew if I didn’t try it, I would regret it for the rest of my life,” Lofgren says.

Laura Nicholson ’09 is another name not unfamiliar with the world of professional crew. A teammate of Coffey’s on the U-23 squad—though a member of the women’s four, not eight—Nicholson has since gone on to Princeton to train with the U.S. national team.

“It’s a lot of getting used to the different training programs, larger volume, lower intensity,” Nicholson says of her new regimen. “It’s about adapting to a lot of new things.”

For Coffey, Lofgren and Nicholson welcomed her into the nationally-ranked Radcliffe program during her freshman year. But now a junior, Coffey has switched roles. For freshmen Michelle Pearson and Celia Kohl—both of whom will be on the first varsity boat—Coffey is a constant motivating force.

“I never hesitate to talk to her,” says Kohl, who trained with the junior national team the summer between her sophomore and junior years of high school.

Now poised between the past and future of Radcliffe crew, Coffey has earned the praise of both those she looked up to and those that look up to her.

“She’s an incredible athlete; she’s a great rower,” Nicholson says. “She’s great to compete with, to be on a boat with.”

“She has a very open, fun personality,” Kohl adds. “She’s an amazing rower, but she’s also got a great personality. It’s very comforting. She has a good mixture of intensity, but at the same time, she’s pretty laid back.”

And even her father is beginning to come around on Harvard.

“They are a very worthy adversary,” Calvin confesses. “It’s good healthy competition. I have nothing against Harvard. Go Harvard.”

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.