Hard to Let Go of the Unexpected Calling

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Jazz dance was her favorite. Years spent twirling in flashy attire to up-tempo music under the lights had to pay off somehow. It was a discipline. It was a love. It was a life. For as much as Madison Jensen liked to swim and dive, jazz dance was her groove. She was a four-time UDA All-American in Dance. She had a 4.0 grade-point average and was valedictorian at Wichita Heights High School. She could dance her way into virtually any college.

She found her home in the Little Apple. Yes, she applied to six different schools, but Kansas State felt unique, a large school with small-community vibes. Dance? Well, that didn't work out. She was devastated when she wasn't chosen for the Classy Cats dance squad. Her supportive father, James, was there to pick up the pieces. A questionnaire, yes, a questionnaire on the table, could be a game changer for his only daughter, if only she'd consider. More than once, Madison said, "No dad, that's not for me." Now? Perhaps this could turn into her outlet: Women's rowing.

"He said, 'This could be a really big turning point for you,'" Madison recalls. "The way he said it, it wasn't a bad thing. It was opening a door for another opportunity."

She kept calling and emailing, trying to open that door. She sent her resume to the K-State women's rowing office. A dancer? Becoming a rower? But she was persistent. For all of her life, Madison sparkled on stage. This, she thought, could be a stage-worthy comeback story. From the ashes of disappointment could arise a new fire. She reasoned that dance would help her succeed in rowing because you work so hard all year for just a couple performances. She convinced herself that the strength and discipline of on-stage dance could lead to on-water success. She was a 5-foot-9 ball of energy with work ethic that left most envious, and she was eager. Then one day, the door opened. After a visit to the rowing facilities, she was hooked. It was June before her freshman year.

"I was the last rower to sign," she says.

Today, she's the only sixth-year senior on the K-State women's rowing team.

"I feel proud to say I was a walk-on and now I'm a sixth-year senior," she says. "Still here."

Still here. Still rising before dawn, showing up 45 minutes early to warm-up before 7 a.m. practice; still gathering her teammates, she served as a team captain last season; still leading by example, because she remembers how much she looked up to her older teammates years ago; still grinding away, although the sun sets on her career as she prepares for her last dance.

There will be a time, of course, when that smell of morning air off Tuttle Creek Lake dissipates and the fog covering the water lifts for a final time, when early-morning rowing and afternoon workouts halt, and she'll have open blocks of time that she'll likely fill with coursework as she completes her master's degree in school counseling. There will be a time, yes, but not now. Not for the next few weeks. Not with K-State competing Saturday at the Creighton Duel in Omaha, Nebraska, then the Sunflower Showdown in Kansas City, Kansas (April 29), before she finishes her career at the Big 12 Championship in Austin Texas (May 14).

Six years. That's more than half a decade. A big commitment. A lifetime of memories.

"I was just thinking how I couldn't imagine being in school and not rowing and not being challenged every day," she says. "It's a big-time commitment, but it's so benefiting — the schedule, the camaraderie. I just couldn't say goodbye to the girls quite yet."

"I make new relationships every year and it's going to be really hard to say goodbye. Last year, I was like, 'Why say goodbye when I can stay another year and make memories?'"

This season, she has raced in the first Varsity 8+, who finished first with a time of 6:34.90 in one of their races at the Hornet Invitational in Sacramento, California on March 21. The boat finished second in their final at 6:47.20 at the Sunshine State Invitational in Sarasota, Florida, a massive improvement from day one to day two of racing. It finished first at 7:00.23 at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships last Sunday in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Jensen sits near the middle of the boat. She says that she is one of the young women who are described as the power to move the craft. Hours of training goes into each movement while the young women row in steady rhythm. She likes rhythm. It reminds her of dance — that old reliable friend who despite distance never fades. Truth is, water has been a longtime friend as well — she was a four-time letterman in swimming and diving and league runner-up and second team All-City in swimming in 2015. Now she stares into the water wondering where it might take her next.

"I have loved the water my whole life," she says. "I plan to continue to somehow be involved with water, either a water sport, or live by the water."

Water practices are the toughest practices, she says, but there's no feeling like sliding into the boat and gliding across a glass river or lake. "It's all worth it to me," she says. "Not everyone gets to experience that. I try not to take it for granted."

This morning wind gusts proved too great to get on the water, so the team practiced rowing in its indoor complex. Currently, she works as a nanny from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to earn extra money. She'll practice for 1 ½ hours in the afternoon, attend class from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and then return home. An Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection every year of her career and a Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award winner, Jensen takes pride in her ability to balance rowing and coursework. It's funny, she reasons, because rowers learn to focus so much on rowing, and she finds herself applying that focus to every aspect of her life. She loves maintaining a schedule. Now her schedule figures to change soon as a new chapter of life begins to sweep in like a northwest wind across the Flint Hills.

Jensen thinks back to what she's learned most about herself over the course of her K-State career.

"I've learned that I'm a lot stronger than I think I am, and I can handle a lot harder situations than I ever thought I could," she says. "I haven't had the easiest rowing journey. It didn't come naturally to me. When I was younger, I wouldn't have ever thought I could handle this, but each year I've learned to be easier on myself, to take every day and treat it as a learning opportunity, and I think I'll carry that with me forever.

"If I can get through six years of rowing, I can do anything."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Madison Jensen

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