By James Walton
Listed at a generous 5-feet, 8-inches tall, Cassandra Brown is not the prototype for rowing that her times and accomplishments for the Northeastern University women’s crew team might suggest.
Brown, or “Cass,” as friends and teammates call her, is the prototype student, however, and her accomplishments in the classroom are equally as impressive as her contributions while navigating the water.
A native of rural St. George, in southwest Queensland, Australia, Brown, 22, is one of a handful of Australian natives that has crossed the Pacific Ocean in order to compete for NU. She is one of two rowers from the country on the NU team.
Under coach Joe Wilhelm, Brown sat bow on the team that finished sixth in the championship eight at the Head of the Charles Regatta, behind only Stanford, Princeton, Yale and both the U.S. and Canadian national teams. She has received the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete Award the past two seasons, and was named an Academic All-American last season.
She maintains a 3.67 grade point average as a finance and supply chain management double major.
“She leads by example,” said Wilhelm, alluding to the junior’s excellence in the boat and the classroom. “The team looks at her as very steady.”
Brown began her rowing career at the age of 14.
“I lived close to the lake in [St. George] … so I used to go down there on weekends and row. I just wanted to try it. I was small enough at that point to be a coxswain, so I was into that, and then I spent a lot of time doing boat maintenance. Then I started rowing more seriously,” she said.
Brown grew up on a 25,000-acre cattle ranch, before moving to the much larger city of Canberra when she was 15. With her and her sister getting older, her father just simply wanted a change of pace.
“Oh my god, [I did] everything,” Brown recalled of her duties on the farm. “Fencing, feeding the dogs and horses, mustering, shearing. We had sheep, cattle and goats and we used to grow wheat, cotton, sunflowers, pretty much anything. My dad was a really good farmer.”
At the age of 16, while attending St. Clare’s College, the equivalent to high school in America, Brown was tested by the Talent Identification Program (TIP), a government-funded organization. All Australian children are tested, and many volunteer to be evaluated each year.
“They told me I should be a weightlifter because I was short, and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t think so,” she said.
Brown began rowing under the Talented Athlete Program (TAP) instead, the organization that athletes recognized in TIP train with in various sports. She also rowed for four years at St. Clare’s, where she also played basketball and softball, and was a member of the swimming and cross-country teams.
As for ending up in Boston, Brown says she does not know why Northeastern decided to pay more attention to her than the other American schools she applied to.
“I was just as fast as everyone else, but many schools don’t recognize the potential in someone that is so much shorter,” she said.
Even Wilhelm admits that normally Northeastern recruits people a bit taller, but said, “Technically, she is very sound and fit … she has a very good work ethic.” Currently in her last year of NCAA eligibility, Brown has been a member of the varsity eight since her freshman year. Conventionally, freshman row novice, and even on varsity there are two levels of boats below the varsity eight.
When Brown joined the team, she was lucky because there was an opening for a smaller rower at the bow of the boat. This season, she has been sitting in the two seat.
“The most difficult seats to row are the front and back,” he added. “They go up and down, back and forth. You need to [be] a talented athlete.”
Crew presents a unique team dynamic that Brown enjoys.
“I might be competing against the girl next to me [for position on the team], but at the same time I have to be able to row with her as well,” she said.
Crew has also given Brown the chance to travel throughout the country. She especially enjoyed the West coast of the country, but is not sure where she will end up after her experience at Northeastern.
Along with classes and her athletic responsibilities, Brown works about 20 hours a week as a dispatcher for a Somerville-based moving company, where she started out in the office as a business co-op. During the season, she is out of bed by 4:45 a.m., and gets to a three-hour practice on the water by 5:45. She is back on campus by 9 a.m. for classes, and works through the afternoon and early evening. By the time she gets home, her bedtime is not far off. Understandably, she spends a good deal of her weekends sleeping in.
“This sport attracts very driven people,” said Wilhelm, who stresses the importance of education to his team.
Cass Brown proves her coach right everyday.
