10 MAY 2021 By Mallory Gleich E arlier this year, Phoenix and Tempe residents Jasper Liu and Sophie Heywood gathered their strength, grabbed their oars and headed to Florida to compete in the Olympic trials for a spot at this year’s Olympic games. THE U.S. TRIALS Nearly a year after the U.S. Olympic Team Trials were set to start, USRowing held the first of three trials in February in Sarasota, FL, that determined which U.S. rowers would join the National Team. Rowing includes several different boat classes that race in the Olympics. The smaller boats (one and two- person) are chosen through trial events, like the one in February, while bigger boats (four and eight-person crews) are selected internally through USRowing-led camps. The boats that competed in the trial were for the men’s single sculls, women’s single sculls, lightweight women’s double sculls, and men’s lightweight double sculls. The winners of the lightweight men’s single and double events will race at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta (FOQR) on May 15-17 in Lucerne, Switzerland. JASPER LIU Jasper Liu attended Brophy Prep and graduated in 2013. From there, he attended the University of Pennsylvania and started rowing his freshman year. “In high school, I played baseball, soccer and ran track, but wasn’t going to pursue any of those in college. The rowing team at Penn was open to walk- ons, so I decided to give it a go and ended up loving it,” he said. Rowing is a sport that requires technique and a lot of fitness. Liu worked hard, and by his junior year, he was racing with the varsity team. “I could see that I had a lot more potential, so the thought of pursuing the National Team started budding,” he said. Since college, Liu has won several national regattas for men’s single sculls, and he represented the U.S. at the World Championships in 2019. At the U.S. Olympic Trials, Liu and his teammate Zach Heese won the men’s lightweight double sculls event. “Winning trials was both exhilarating and gave me a huge sense of satisfaction,” Liu said. “In March 2020, we were just one week away from the Olympic Trials before they were canceled. I was in the favored boat last year, so I felt like I was so close to achieving this huge goal.” Liu said that the event’s postponement added a little more pressure for this year. “We had previously raced or trained with all of our competition, so we knew that we were the favored boat again. When we finally crossed the line in first place, it was an incredibly joyful and satisfying moment,” he said. LOCAL ATHLETES HOPE FOR A CHANCE AT 2021 OLYMPICS LOFTY GOALS USROWING FOR Galen Bernick, James Nelson, Sophie Heywood, Sophia Denison-Johnston and Cam Kielty. PHOTO: CONAL GROOM

11 MAY 2021 Liu and his teammate are currently in Switzerland training for the FOQR to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic rowing team and the opportunity to represent their country at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. SOPHIE HEYWOOD Sophie Heywood started rowing at Tempe Town Lake when she was 11 years old. Although the minimum age requirement was 13, Heywood fibbed about her age so she could start earlier. Before rowing, she swam for the Arizona Marlins and sailed Optimist sailboats with the Arizona Sailing Foundation. She’s always dreamed of competing in the Olympics. “Ever since I met my first Olympian, a woman named Sarah Jones who rowed in the 2004 Games – I saw the way she walked into the room and just radiated superwoman confidence,” Heywood said. “I remember being a teenager and thinking, that is the kind of woman I want to be. I spent the next ten years learning to cultivate that kind of power in my practice.” Heywood trained twice a day, six days a week. Throughout high school, she was a top finisher at the USRowing Southwest Regionals and Youth Nationals Championships and competed at the Junior World Championships in Prague and London. “I was recruited to row for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I competed for four years and raced twice at the NCAA Championships,” she said. After college, Heywood moved to London to complete her master’s degree from Queen Mary University. While there, she joined the Molesey Boat Club, and after graduating, she moved back to the states and began preparing for the 2020 Olympic Trials. “I had been training without a team or a coach, and was completely broke, so once the word came through that the Olympics were postponed, I ended up back in Arizona unsure of my ability to continue training,” Heywood said. After some “soul- searching,” Heywood put herself back in the game after a new date for the trials was announced. She spent five months training, and then drove to Florida to race in the women’s lightweight double sculls. “Trials itself was exhilarating,” Heywood said. “It was happening against the backdrop of one of the strangest years in our sporting history – it meant that we had no idea what kind of conditions the other athletes were dealing with or what level of speed they would produce. The winning crew in our event broke the world record (unofficially) in the preliminary time trial, so the competition was world-class.” Heywood and her teammate Sophia Denison-Johnston placed fourth in the competition. Although Sophie will not participate in the final regatta in Switzerland, she said the process of preparing for the event “renewed the passion for the sport that I remember from the beginning,” and that she will continue training and racing. WHAT’S NEXT Those competing in the FOQR will be racing crews from other countries that also failed to qualify through the 2019 World Championships. To earn a spot at the Olympic Games, they will need to finish in the top two positions. usrowing.org When we finally crossed the line, it was an incredibly joyful and satisfying moment. Sophie Heywood (front) and Sophia Denison. Jasper Liu. PHOTO: SCOTT DEL VECCHIO PHOTO COURTESY OF USROWING GRAND OPENING SALE! *UP TO 60% OFF* *UP TO 60% OFF* Select Items, Repairs and Special Orders not included. reytag Fine Jewelry GRAND OPENING SALE! *UP TO 60% OFF* *UP TO 60% OFF* 4730 E Indian School Rd, Suite 115 • Phoenix, AZ 85018 (602) 263-8404 • www.ffjewels.com GRAND OPENING SALE! GRAND OPENING SALE! GRAND OPENING SALE! GRAND OPENING SALE! GRAND OPENING SALE!