The road to the ultimate honor in a sport isn’t always paved smoothly. And it doesn’t announce its beginning loudly, either.
Sometimes, it starts with a squirt of a middle schooler walking into a meeting and being spotted by a grownup, who sees the irresistible combination of enthusiasm and potential and shoots their shot.
Olivia Fogarty was in 7th grade in 2013 when she attended an informational meeting at Weber Middle School in Port Washington for a club she knew nothing about called Port Rowing.
After the meeting, or maybe during (Fogarty isn’t quite sure), a coach named Deirdre Saunders approached her.
“You’re small. But can you yell?”
“That’s why I’m here!” Fogarty shouted back.
From this, an amazing career was born. Starting in middle school, reaching scholastic heights nationally, and then continuing through a remarkably successful college career at the University of Texas at Austin, Fogarty used the power of her lungs to become one of the best female coxswains in America.
And on March 28 at Sands Point Preserve, Fogarty was inducted into the inaugural class of the Port Rowing Hall of Fame.
“Your fingers and toes are numb and soaking wet, but man, it is just the best sport there is,” Fogarty said in a phone interview before the event. “I am so honored and so excited to be going in (to the Hall of Fame); just complete shock and excitement when I was told.”
Fogarty was inducted along with former teammate Lindsey Rust, who also had an All-American-level career and went to compete at Stanford.
For Fogarty, being a coxswain (the person on the boat who yells instructions and encourages the other rowers) on a boys’ boat in high school was challenging but rewarding.
Beginning in sophomore year, she realized she was excellent at her job, competing in the top boats for Port Rowing at major events like the Head of the Charles.
She scored 1st place wins at the New York State championships, leading one of her former coaches, Michiel Bartman, to declare, “When Olivia’s in the boat, the boat goes faster.”
“I was accepted right away by the boys and by the whole team, so it was never difficult to feel comfortable,” Fogarty said. “Rowing is such a tight-knit community, so even at the other races, everyone was friendly.”
Once she had success in Port Washington at Schreiber High, colleges came calling, and Fogarty ended up as a Longhorn. She helped lead Texas to three NCAA National Championships and three Big 12 titles, and she was a three-time National Scholar athlete.
Her career ended after she graduated in 2023 with a degree in environmental engineering, and Fogarty now works as an investment banker at JP Morgan.
Similarly to Fogarty, Rust didn’t imagine she’d be a rower as a kid growing up in Roslyn, but a stray comment from a family friend inspired her.
“She said something like ‘rowing is too hard,’ and that made me want to try it,” Rust said. “And I tried it, and I really liked how hard it was, and that if you work hard and put your head down, you can really get better and see progress.”
Rust was also attracted to the natural beauty of the sport.
“You’re up in the boat at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. and seeing the sunrise, and it was so beautiful,” she said.
Once in the water, Rust became known for being almost inhuman in the boat, with a threshold for pain that impressed everyone.
“We would joke and be like, ‘Does Lindsey have like a pain tolerance that no one else has?’” Fogarty said. “She was so amazing.”
Becoming one of the best ERG performers anywhere, Rust succeeded at CRASH B’s (a prestigious national competition) as a sophomore, placing third in the lightweight division, and continued to excel.
“She just had an insane amount of power that she could generate,” Port Rowing President Matt Lucas said. “She was so, so powerful in a small body.”
In 2019, Rust won a silver medal in the women’s pairs at the Youth National Championships and gold at the CRASH B World Indoor Rowing Championships. She also represented the U.S. in the Junior Nationals, helping the “Coxed Four” to a fourth-place finish in Tokyo.
Collegiately, Rust competed for Stanford, and during her freshman year in 2019-20, she set the world record for the 60-minute erg for lightweight women under 19.
“Rowing for sure helped me so much as a person,” Rust said. “It helped me unlock some things I had within. Little changes over time compounding into big results. It was so important to me.”
For more information on Port Rowing, email info@portrowing.org, or visit their website at www.portrowing.org
