Samantha Smart

One-Junior, 2022

Won the four with coxswain and eight at the 2022 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships. Won the varsity eight at the 2022 San Diego Crew Classic. Won the youth four with coxswain and youth eight at the 2021 USRowing Summer National ChampionshipsPlaced second in the youth eight at the 2021 Head of the Charles. Won the under-17 eight at the 2019 USRowing U17/U15 Youth National Championships. Won the women's freshman eight at the 2019 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships. Won the novice eight at the 2019 San Diego Crew Classic. Placed third in the youth eight at the 2019 Head of the Charles.

Some of Samantha's favorite hobbies include playing the acoustic and electric guitar, singing, painting acrylic realism landscapes, writing, boxing, and summiting mountains. She is also an ultra runner, meaning she runs distances over the standard 26.2-mile marathon distance. The longest she has run is 50 miles with 10,000 feet of elevation gain in just over 12 hours. She loves ultra running because it gives her an opportunity to really push herself to her own physical and mental limits, which she then can carry over into rowing. Samantha found the sport of rowing at a rowing camp she attended in seventh grade. She then tried out for the Marin novice team. Samantha names one of her personal heroes as Courtney Dauwalter, one of the best ultra runners in the world. Dauwalter is one of her personal heroes because Dauwalter's character and love for pushing her own limits inspired Samantha in her journey of ultra running, which she has carried into her love for rowing.