Lakeside Link: recent grads compete in less common D1 athletics Faith Retzlaff ‘22 — Equestrian - Jumping Seat Team at University of Minnesota-Crookston
For Faith, riding lessons at age 9 turned into a college opportunity. Later, she worked at a horse stable in exchange for riding lessons, and now she rides most days at college. At the Novice Level (middle of the pack) to start last year, she earned 36 points during the season to advance to Limit Level for her sophomore year, allowing her to compete both On the Flat and Over Fences for the 23-24 season. UM-Crookston is D2, but competes with D1 colleges such as South Carolina and Baylor in the National Collegiate Equestrian Association. Faith competed in regionals and zone competition as a freshman—one level away from Nationals. Finding time to study can be a challenge because of travel and three-hour practice sessions. While tutors are available, Faith credits LLHS with preparing her better for college than some of the other students. “College is more challenging, but with my habits of study and time management, that has helped me a lot!” she says. Finding time to come home is also a challenge because the school is a nine-hour car drive or a 12-hour train ride back to Columbus for Faith, who participated in band, marching band, choir, and was an active member of Teens for Christ during her Lakeside years. Another difference is talking about her faith. “In my philosophy course, I had people of different religions in my discussions. I used what I learned in Apologetics class in the ‘real’ world.” While riding and competitions took her away from weekly church attendance, Faith gives a hint for staying close to God. “I got a new Bible when I went to college and make it a habit to read from it every day,” she says.
Evelyn Schauer ‘21 — Women’s Rowing Team at University of Wisconsin-Madison Paying for college was a top priority for Evelyn. She wanted to attend a big D1 engineering school because she felt there would be better class options and a career connections. She founds some academic scholarships but also considered athletics. Her best HS sport was track, but her times weren’t fast enough.
Enter rowing. UW has a long history in women’s rowing—national champs in 1975, 15 NCAA appearances, 16 Olympians. Evelyn tried out and made the team, also known for developing walk-ons. She raced in the Novice 8 boat (8 rowers, 1 coxswain) and did well enough to earn a 15% scholarship for room and board. The coach constantly juggles line ups to see which girls match up technically and on boat speed, and Evelyn moved up to the 2Varsity 4s boat (4 rowers). One of Coach Bebe Bryans’ mantras has been, “We have to get a week better every day!” due to the cold climate and a frozen Lake Mendota for five months of the year. Evelyn loves competing and working six days a week while studying engineering. She credits Lakeside for “feeling I was a step ahead of many other students at UW in academics.” It’s helpful that D1 athletes get first pick of scheduling classes because it helps her classes during the practice hours of 6-8 a.m. and 4-5 p.m. Training and not having a car on campus makes church attendance difficult. “I watch a lot of Time of Grace,” she notes. “I thought it would be harder to talk about my faith, but there are many students who grew up with similar backgrounds. I’ve found a lot more Christians and Lutherans than I thought I would,” she says, adding that one of her trainers attends Holy Cross, Madison. Though the team finished 6th in the Big Ten, which means they didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament, Evelyn is excited to improve in rowing to earn more money, and grow and learn in a culturally diverse student body. page 12 | Lakeside Lutheran Link | 2023 Issue 2 | llhs.org
