Navy Sports Central

Trust, Discipline, and the Power of Eight: Alexandria Vallancey Becomes a World Champion

• Karl Darden • Episode 80

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In our second of installment marking 50 years of excellence in women's athletics at the Naval Academy, Alexandria Vallancy joins us to continue her story. She shares her journey as she prepares for the U23 World Rowing Championships and what it took to cross the finish line first to become a world champion in her sport. 

 Alexandria also talks about the challenges  that come with balancing her professional life as a naval officer with her athletic goals and what it takes to stay competitive while in the national team pipeline. The discipline that requires while maintaining a high level of performance as a division officer is certainly unique.

Finally, Alexandria gives her perspective on the legacy of Navy women’s athletics—50 years strong and how her experience put her in the position she is in today. If this conversation struck a chord with you, follow the show, share it with a Navy sports fan, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories.

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Karl:

It is June 2021 in Iowa City, Iowa. You have been training with the U.S. Women's Rowing Under 23 national team for the past three weeks. And right now, you and your team are getting ready to start a pretty intense practice session. Your coach is chosen today to conduct seat races. These are controlled on-the-water races that coaches use to determine an individual rower's effect on the boat's speed. They provide other information as well. This includes observing a crew's rhythm and looking at unit cohesion. The thing is, these seat races aren't just a one and done thing. It takes the coach multiple races to get the necessary data, and that means you're in for a very long day. The team has been divided into groups of four, and the coach has selected a distance of 1,000 meters. You're in the third seat of your shell, getting ready to go head to head against another group of four. On the coach's signal, both crews take off. After covering the entire distance, your boat crosses the finish line first. But there's no time to relax. You swap seats with a teammate who is in the third seat of the other boat, and as soon as everyone is set, you take off again. This process is repeated over and over. And by the time you get to the fifth 1,000 meter piece, you begin to wonder if it's ever going to end. Your legs are beginning to feel the effects of this workout, and it's been no picnic for your arms either. But you can't afford to let up, not even for a little bit. Because as punishing and stressful as these seat races are, you have no other choice. So you grit your teeth, and staying focused, you press on. You have spent the past three weeks pushing yourself to the limit for a chance to earn a spot on this national team, and you've come too far to let it slip away. From Navy Sports Central, I'm Karl Darden, and this is another special episode commemorating 50 years of excellence in women's athletics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Today is the second and final installment featuring Alexandria Vallancy from the class of 2021. After earning all-state honors as a member of her girls' high school basketball team, Alexandria successfully transitioned to the sport of rowing. And upon earning a seat in the first varsity eight boat her freshman year, she went on to lead the Navy women's team to three Patriot League titles. Alexandria was also part of the mixed crew from the Academy that won the King's Cup at the prestigious Henley Row Regatta, marking the return of Navy rowing to the international stage. I highly encourage you to listen to that episode from a couple of weeks ago. And today, Alexandria is joining us to share her experience with the Under-23 women's national team, and we'll also get caught up on her Navy career and how she balances it with her future rowing goals. Okay, Alexandria, welcome to Navy Sports Central. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with me today.

Alexandria:

Thank you for having me.

Karl:

All right, I wanted to pick back up with the uh Under-23 World Championships, but before we do that, I wanted to get your take on something. And it has to do with, you know, in the previous episode, I spoke about your transition from basketball to rowing. And what I wanted to do is kind of get your sense of when was it that you felt like uh you could really accomplish something in rowing even far beyond what you were able to do in basketball, as great a career as you'd as you did have in high school?

Alexandria:

Yeah, absolutely. Uh my college teammates and coaches were super supportive of me. Uh so they all believed in my speed on the water and on the rowing machine, but a lot of that was all new to me. And so I'd never been in the national team system before. Uh so not until I was able to test my speed and line up in boats at the under 23 selection camp did I really start to get that realization.

Karl:

Okay, so what was your general take going into that first practice? What was your feeling?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I was super nervous actually. Um, like most of the athletes there were from like the bigger schools, like you have Texas, Stanford, University of Washington, like all schools that get in like the top like five places at NCAA's. And so they've all been in the like under 19 or under 23 system before. And so they kind of know what they're doing going into it. And I was from the smaller Navy school, and so you're not as familiar with any of it at all. Right. Um, right. Yeah. And then like the the training for it is a lot more volume than what we're used to at Navy, just because they have so much more time to do an extra second or third session.

Karl:

Yeah, that's true. You don't think about that. No classes to go to or test to study for. Um, how long did you practice together as a team uh before heading over to uh the Czech Republic to go compete?

Alexandria:

Uh I think we only had about four weeks. We met up in early June, and then the championships were the second week of July.

Karl:

So not too much time. All right, so um, this was 2021. So the previous year there were no championships because of the whole pandemic. Um, so the the uh the last time that everybody competed was in 2019. And the women's eights did pretty well. They got to the podium, uh, they finished third behind uh the Netherlands in uh, I believe Great Britain. So, you know, two years later, what was the general feel? I mean, obviously you're going over their win, right? I mean, that's that's the goal. But what was the general expectation in terms of the teams to beat? Were they still those two teams? Uh what were the what were the kind of the scouting reports that you guys were looking at, particularly as it related to the women's eights?

Alexandria:

Yeah, well, we knew the Great Britain was fast, and then the Dutch and Romanians also have a history of being very competitive and fast in that event as well. And so um there were definitely teams to look out for. Uh I don't think Australia or New Zealand were able to compete at that world championships because of COVID that year. Right. So, and I think COVID hit each country differently and messed up everyone's training plans. So that was definitely a big unknown for which teams were gonna be more competitive that year.

Karl:

Okay, so you also competed in the women's force. Uh-huh. Was that something that was in the plan at the beginning, at least in your plan at the beginning, or was this something that the coaches decided uh to do?

Alexandria:

Uh yeah, it was something the coaches decided. I don't think I think it was depending on the size of group and how many athletes they invited to the selection camp, and then seeing what times that we put down in our time trials pieces. I think they decided to double up the four women in the eight as well as the four.

Karl:

Okay. All right, good, good. And actually, this is just kind of an aside from my own uh education. Um they have women's fours with a coxswain and without.

Alexandria:

Yeah.

Karl:

How how do you steer if there's no coxswain? I mean, how does that work? I have no idea.

Alexandria:

Yeah, the um the rudder on the boat, they have like little lines attached to it, and then it goes to the stroke seat. And so the stroke seat can turn the rudder left or right with their foot.

Karl:

All right. Yeah, just the whole concept of it is weird because you guys are like looking in the opposite direction of where you're going. If there's old cocks, and that stroke seat person's got to be pretty, pretty sharp, I'm sure. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Um the way the the way the uh the race schedule laid out, you did the women's fours final first. Okay. And and if I'm correct, you finished second in that. Is that right? In the fours? Okay. So how did that prepare you for the for the eights? I mean, I don't know how many how many days you had in between. Uh was there something about the experience that kind of maybe got you more comfortable with you know knowing what to expect in the finals race? Uh run that down for me.

Alexandria:

Yeah, so we had the the four race was actually, I think it was two hours before the eight race.

Karl:

Oh, okay. So there's like zero time.

Alexandria:

Yeah, so there's not much time to recover. Um, but the it definitely got the nerves out getting the four race out of the way. And then in addition to not winning, um, that definitely left us wanting more for the eight and being able to really put it all out there for the last race of the day.

Karl:

Mm-hmm. Now, I I actually uh re-watched the uh the eights race a couple days ago. I mean, YouTube's got everything, so it's kind of cool. Plus, they have it on USA rolling too, I think. But uh anyway, one of the things uh I noted about the race was that uh you know Germans went out pretty quickly um in that particular race. So I was wondering if you could just kind of walk me through each segment, okay, each each 500 meters. What was you were rowing from that wasn't when you started rowing from the bow, was it? Or was or were you so I was in seven seat for that? Seven seat. So you're right behind the stroke seat. So what walk me through those 500 meters? What was going through your mind? What were you seeing? And uh knowing what the race strategy was, uh, how confident did you guys feel that you could reel those guys in when they when they jumped out? So then when they jumped out ahead.

Alexandria:

Yeah. Um I guess we had a we'd been practicing like you have a base pace for the whole race. And so you get into that like rhythm and pace where you can hit your speed that everyone is moving at in the the second 500 of it, and you try to hold that up until the the last sprint in the last fourth, fourth 500 of the race. Okay. And so I think the Germans had gotten ahead of us a little bit in the first 500 of it. And so I think the most important part was just finding our base pace and rhythm, and then trying to maintain that and take an inch every stroke we took to reel in the Germans.

Karl:

Right, right. And that started to happen fairly quickly after the first 500. I mean, I think uh if I recall, by the time you guys hit halfway through at a thousand meters, you're at least two or three seats ahead and pulling away. So when you saw that sight picture, what what were you thinking then?

Alexandria:

Yeah, that was a little bit relieving, I'll say, because um I think they had gone out a little too hard and then started to fall apart once the fatigue set in at about the 500 at the 1500 meter mark. And so, and then once you start walking seats on another boat, it really just brings up the morale in your own boat. And so we I think we started going a little faster then as well.

Karl:

Right. And you know, now you got like 500 meters to go, and there's like open water between you guys and and you know, the German boat, and of course the rest of the field is way back. Uh so well, let me just real quickly. Years ago, I watched a documentary on the racehorse secretariat, and this was talking about when uh the horse ran the the Belmont Stakes, it won by like 31 lengths. I mean, they was crossing the secretary was crossing the finish line when the other horses were coming off the turn. And the word was when the trainer and the owner were watching from this from the stands, the trainer just kind of yelled out to the jockey, don't fall off the horse. Because that was the only thing that's gonna keep him from winning. So with all that open water in front of you, knowing you basically had it wrapped up, what's the general mindset uh of the crew right then?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I think trying to keep your blade in the water and you know, and not fall off the horse for us would be just not catch a crab. Right. Um, yeah. But yeah, it was it was very exciting, and then you get that like rush of you know, adrenaline having won the race.

Karl:

So I'm sure um when you when you think about crossing the finish line, uh now you think to yourself, okay, wow, I'm actually a world champion in this event. I'm one of the best in the world. So did did that take some time to sink in? I mean, what was what was the overall feeling of not just you, but also your crew having accomplished what you just did?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I'd say it for me, it felt like all like the extra work I'd put in during college had paid off. Um, and it was something that I'd set my eyes my eyes on and uh wasn't something I really believed was possible until I had done it. And then like for the crew is also really special. You know, we'd had a really tough training camp and a lot of seat racing during our training in Iowa um that summer. And so, and especially having not been able to race the year before, right? I think it made it a lot more special.

Karl:

Right, right. Now, I've actually talked on this subject to you know a couple of my classmates who are on the rowing team and and and and whatnot. But um, I wanted to kind of get your assessment as well. When when I look at different types of teams, whether it's a basketball team or volleyball team, and I'm thinking in particular about teams that, you know, good communication and interaction, you just have to be on the same page all the time. Okay. And certainly in basketball and volleyball, that's true. Uh and there's a certain bond that builds. But then when you when you go to rowing, you're you're looking at uh a physical motion that each of you are doing and it's the same thing you're doing. And you know, on a basketball team, football team, volleyball, every position has a different responsibility. But here it you're basically all trying to master the same physical motion and being able to do that at an elite level. My feeling is it makes the relationships between the teammates a little bit different. What's your take on that?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I think like the most important thing I think you have to build in a crew is the trust and having the trust that you know the boatmates behind you and the boatmates in front of you are gonna be pulling all out for the race and want to win as badly as you do. And I think we just really built up a strong sense of trust through all the hard workouts and training we had done that summer. Um yeah.

Karl:

Yeah, good point. It's interesting to me because when I wrote about the the King's Cup uh win several years ago in the blog, I actually was kind of estimating how many strokes per minute you guys were doing and how long it took to finish. And I said, they're looking at when you look at one person stroking times eight, that's thousands of strokes together in and out of the water as simultaneous as you can get it, you know. So that is a really special feeling to be able to uh pull that off and and and and cross the finish line first, I would imagine.

Alexandria:

Yeah, absolutely.

Karl:

Okay, so now we're we're all done with that. Uh it's July 2021. You get commissioned um basically, well, you've already been commissioned, I'm sorry. Uh, but you're getting ready to launch into your Navy career. So uh talk to me a little bit about that transition. And was there a plan already in place to basically manage your athletic goals along with getting your professional qualifications and all that sort of thing?

Alexandria:

Yeah, so I wasn't able to postpone my commitment in any way, but yeah, my first duty station was on a DDG out of San Diego, which was great because you can uh row on the water year-round there. Yeah. So that worked out really well for me. But yeah, I still had the dream of making the national team, but it wasn't really possible to fit in the full-time training schedule with my work schedule as a you know on a ship. And so yeah, I trained on my own when I could, usually before work around 4 a.m. and then after work. Um, so I'd just have really long days when we were in port, and then when we were at sea, it was just trying to fit in workouts when I could to stay in shape.

Karl:

Okay.

Alexandria:

It just really felt like I was starting from scratch again and having to work my way back into the system.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah. Now, destroyer is not a whole lot of room on those, but could they fit a rowing machine on there anywhere? Or uh Yeah.

Alexandria:

Yeah, we had a we had a nice um gym in our hangar bay.

Karl:

So okay, yeah, yeah.

Alexandria:

That worked out really well.

Karl:

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Okay, so you're on the destroyer out of San Diego, uh, presumably what, two, two and a half years? Is that about?

Alexandria:

Yeah, it was about yeah, like 30 months.

Karl:

Okay, all right. And and where'd you go from there?

Alexandria:

Uh then I went to moved to Virginia to be the for my second tour um on as a deck devo on a carrier.

Karl:

Okay, all right. Wow, that's a big change. How many how many people that how many people are you overseeing compared to when you were on the destroyer?

Alexandria:

Um surprisingly, they're in the extended yard period. So it has been about the same number because they're very, very undermand. But um, yeah, I think they're so like on paper, it should be about four times as many people.

Karl:

Okay.

Alexandria:

Yeah.

Karl:

All right. So um most recently they had the 2025 World Championships in China. Uh were you were you there for those?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I was. Yes.

Karl:

Okay, so talk to me a little bit about that experience. I did catch a couple of races. I think, I think it's the women's fours, I think, did really well out there. Um, but yeah, talk to me about that experience.

Alexandria:

Yeah, China was it was super awesome. I think we were training together uh out of Chula Vista in San Diego for the training camp leading up to going to China for uh most of the summer. And so I think we did a lot of volume and a lot more training than I have ever done over the summer. I'd say I've done more rowing in the past year than I have in my entire rowing career. So um, but yeah, no, it was a very awesome experience, especially to have all the different uh uh like countries there competing from all over the world. Uh so that was really cool. And then yeah, like the the rowing course was was pretty nice too. But yeah, I think we I think we got fifth place in the in the eight this year. So we made it to the A final and then um didn't get a medal, but definitely leaves you wanting more for the next year.

Karl:

So yeah, for sure. Now, with the uh world championships being every year, how's that gonna change in 2028? I mean, are they still gonna have the worlds plus the Olympics, or will they just basically uh combine the two?

Alexandria:

Uh they usually have a non-Olympic event, like non-Olympic events compete at like a separate world championships that year, I think. Okay. So it'll be probably I think the lightweight events are no longer in the Olympics, so those will be at the world championships, and then the Olympic events will be at the Olympics in 2028.

Karl:

All right. So what's the plan there? I mean, is that your target basically just to kind of keep doing what you're doing and um you know, shooting for that uh July 14th, I guess is when those things kick off in 2028?

Alexandria:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think I'm gonna be going to Princeton this next fall, uh, when I transition to the reserve, so I can train with uh full-time with the national team. So that's my that's my goal for the next two years.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah. Five years. I can't believe you graduated almost five years ago. That's it just blows me away. Yeah, it's crazy. Okay, so well, there's one thing I wanted to ask you, and I asked Coach Bagnell about this when I saw him a couple years ago, um, well, actually, a year and a half ago when I was out from my reunion. But I read this is right after the Paris Olympics, and I read for LA they're gonna shorten the distance of the races from 2,000 meters to 1,500. I was pretty surprised at that, especially when You think about the fact that there are plenty of places that they can do, they don't even have to do the races in LA, they could they could do pretty much anywhere they want. Uh I mean, for crying out loud, and and and for the Paris Olympics, they had to surfing in like Fiji for you know was but uh as somebody who is a a competitor and has just been doing this for quite a long time now, do you have uh an opinion on how that's gonna change the preparation, uh race strategy, that sort of thing, by shortening it by 500 meters?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I think physiologically it'll be a very different race with the shorter distance strategy-wise, I think it'll be more of a sprint, and then you have less time if you you know the start will be more important because you have less time to make up the the distance that you lose on it. But I don't think there'll be much change to the preparation and the years leading up to it, as the qualifying races are still gonna be 2,000 meters for the Olympics.

Karl:

Yeah, it's pretty interesting. I just it's just gonna be strange because now I'm thinking, well, how does that affect um, you know, records and that sort of thing? I mean, you're dealing with shortening the race by 25%. So all right, so I wanted to ask you this question in the context of where you are now and how that time at Annapolis helps shape that experience for you. I mean, you think about the fact that you you show up at Annapolis basically nine years ago, and the idea was to make the basketball team. You know, that didn't work out, but the next thing you know, you're excelling at a at a crazy high level in in rowing. And now you're you're part of the national team. Can you talk a little bit about how that experience at the academy helped put you in the position that you're in right now?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I think like having to, you know, change from basketball to rowing and try something completely new, you know, after the basketball plan not working out. I think it just shows that like you can always find a way or it's gonna work out if you believe in yourself, even though it's not always gonna go to plan or be perfect. And so that's something that I lean on when the trainings get challenging.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And um I just got a couple more questions for you here. A couple of fun facts to throw in your direction as we look at this 50 years of athletic excellence since the women uh have started in Naples back in 1976. Right now, there are 15 sports where the women compete at the varsity level. And and three of them happen to be co-ed, uh uh rifle and the two sailing programs. Um, so then you got 12, and then 11 of those compete in the Patriot League, including rowing, obviously. I actually did a count of all the uh Patriot League championships the women's programs have won since they joined. Um, first of all, every team has picked up at least one title, and the total number for all 11 programs came out to 73. Rowing has won nine of them, by the way. That's awesome. So, yeah, I thought I'd throw in a couple of uh little fun facts for you there. Now, um 50 years is a is a pretty big milestone. And and when you stop and think about some of the things you've been able to accomplish during your time at Annapolis, what do you want the listeners to know? And even even young athletes that are going up and considering different athletic careers, what do you want them to know about how the experience shaped you and uh what being part of that program coming from the academy means to you, given the fact that we're celebrating this big milestone this year?

Alexandria:

Yeah, I think like rowing became like a big part of who I was at the academy. And I remember having all the like Navy women's crew alumni come talk to us and share their experiences from almost 50 years ago. So I think the rowing program started in 1977. Yeah. For women, I think that was the first year. And so it's like really awesome to see what how much they've achieved and how much has changed since then. And knowing that like I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the women who came through the academy before me and dealt with all the barriers that I never had to face. Right, right. So I think it's inspiring to see like others who have believed in their own dreams and goals and found a way to bring those to life.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah. Well said. All right. This uh looks like a pretty good place to wrap up our conversation. Alexandria, thank you so much for joining me today on Navy Sports Central and sharing your story. It has been my privilege, and uh make no mistake about that, to work with you and uh to bring it to our audience. And um, I just want to wish you the absolute best in both your professional and rowing careers moving forward.

Alexandria:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Karl:

All right, take care.

Alexandria:

You too.

Karl:

Okay, once again, that was Alexandria Valancey from the class of 21. She will be continuing her journey as a member of the U.S. women's rowing national team as they prepare for the world championships in Amsterdam this summer. This has been our second in a series of episodes marking 50 years of excellence in women's athletics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Please join us next time when you will hear the story of Mary Brignan from the class of 81. Mary came to Annapolis from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and went on to become a trailblazer in the sport of intercollegiate sailing. So come on back and check it out. By the way, if you like what you've heard on this show, please be sure to follow Navy Sports Central wherever you get your podcast. And by all means, feel free to share it with every Navy sports fan you know. The music for this episode was provided by Nathaniel Wolkstein from Fiverr as well as Audio Jungle. These are two terrific sources for finding music for just about any kind of project while supporting those who create it. And finally, the content and opinions shared on Navy Sports Central are my own and in no way represent the views of the Naval Academy or Navy Athletics. Talk to you soon, everybody, and until next time, this is Karl Darden. Go Navy Beat Army.

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