The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PULLMAN - College is typically a time for growth and new experiences. But for former Dayton High School valedictorian and athlete Malia Frame, tougher academics and new friendships weren't enough. The Business Administration and Agriculture Technology and Production Management double-major decided to experience a whole new world as an athlete as well - collegiate rowing.

Frame said she heard about WSU's rowing team long before she considered trying out. She knew of several Dayton alumni who have rowed at the college level and even some for WSU. Frame played soccer, softball and basketball for DHS and says her Dayton coaches were very encouraging and played a big role in her rowing tryouts.

"I couldn't imagine my life without sports, so I did some research on my own and then discussed it with my [former] soccer and basketball coaches," Frame said. "They had insight on how to get connected with college coaches and helped me through the necessary paperwork."

Frame didn't hesitate to get her feet wet, though she'd had no experience with the sport. "It was completely new to me! I had seen it on TV for the Olympics but had never been around anything quite like it," she said.

New recruits attend a six-week tryout where they learn the basics of rowing. Frame said the tryouts began with about 60 girls who had little to no experience rowing. By the end of the six weeks, two-thirds of the girls had been cut, leaving 27 new girls -- enough to fill three 8+ boats, each containing eight rowers and one coxswain.

The WSU rowing team is split between novice and varsity divisions, with about 20-25 novice rowers and 40-50 varsity rowers. The novice group is made up of first-year girls who tried out for their positions, while varsity is made up of upper classmen and recruits. Within the divisions, the team is split into ranked boats, which change as the season progresses, as girls compete for a seat in the top boat.

Simulation practice facilities are available at WSU but most of the team's practices take place about 30 minutes from campus at Wawawai Landing, upstream of Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. According to Frame, a typical practice consists of warm-ups, endurance or drilling and lots of cardio.

"What most people don't realize is that rowing is a full body work out with most of the power coming from legs instead of arms which is why cardio is so important. There is no rest or time outs in rowing -- if you are in a boat you are working."

Boat sizes can vary, but WSU races only "eights" or "fours." The number denotes how many rowers, but each boat also carries a coxswain who steers the boat and is the "on the water coach," directing rowers on stroke rate and timing. The team practices from February through May with the PAC-12 Championships taking place in May.

WSU has a "very competitive team" and has competed and placed well at Nationals for several years, according to Frame. Home races take place at Wawawai Landing, but Frame said the team also races against Division I schools in Seattle, Spokane, San Diego, and Portland, and more. Frame didn't make the first boat this year so missed out on traveling out of state, but the WSU team competed in Clemson, S.C. and San Diego, Calif.

Frame plans to return to rowing next year. "I have enjoyed learning about the sport and meeting new people as well as the everyday mental and physical challenges. This sport is very physically demanding, as any Division I sport would be but there is a big mental aspect, because it is very individual but still a team sport. Each girl is competing for the eight seats in the top boat, but we all must work together to make every boat as fast as possible," she said.

Malia Frame (center) works on her stroke.

Always up for a challenge, Frame especially enjoys the mental aspect of the sport. "I would have to say that the mental battles are the most rewarding to me," she said. "To help decide who is in which boat, we do tests where everyone individually rows either 2,000 meters or 6,000 meters, depending on the season; then the times are recorded and we are ranked fastest to slowest. This is not the only factor deciding seats in a boat but it is a very big contributor. These tests are very difficult and getting a personal best time on one of these is very rewarding and extremely challenging."

An honor scholar herself, Frame is proud to note that the rowing team has one of the highest GPAs of all the sports at WSU. This year 35 varsity rowers and 11 novice rowers made the list of student athletes with a 3.5 or higher GPA.

In addition to earning honor grades and being part of the rowing team, Frame spends two nights a week during the school year as a volunteer YoungLife Leader at Garfield-Palouse High School. She is active in college YoungLife as well and is spending the month of July working as summer camp staff at Washington Family Ranch in Antelope, Ore.