9 Go Big Red
Rowing to
RIO
Tom Dethlefs ’08 looks to the future. 2016 to be exact.
T
om Dethlefs ’08 saw his first crew meet when he was 12 years old and it was very much a Lawrenceville affair; he was with his father, former Director of Academic Support David Dethlefs P’08, to watch the rowing skills of Jesse Oberst ’00, the son of Director of Educational Support Marti Richmond P’99 ’00. What he saw left quite an impression. Fast forward a dozen years. Dethlefs’ life now follows a familiar pattern. Six days a week he gets up early and heads to a training facility in Princeton to row on an erg machine. Under the supervision of a team of crack coaches and trainers, he rows for two hours in the morning. In the afternoon he rows for another three. Then, when six o’clock rolls around, he gets in another two hours before heading home under evening skies. This is the workday of a Senior National Team member who is serious about earning a seat on the boat for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, which Dethlefs most certainly is. Whether he gets on that rowing team or not, Dethlefs has come a long, long way from his early days at Lawrenceville. He
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t h e l aw r e n t i a n
tried out for crew as a freshman and, though he made the team, Dethlefs qualifies this fact with a “just barely.” Fortunately, his coach, Math Master Ben Wright P’10, turned out to be a major influence. “He’s fantastic for high school-level
rowing, because he knows how to take boys and turn them into real athletes,” Dethlefs asserts. “He understands the psychological side of the sport and helps athletes to push their limits.” By the time Dethlefs’ junior year rolled