By MARK MOSCHETTI
Seattle Pacific Sports Information
 
SEATTLE – The wall.
 
Runners know it's there. Swimmers know it's there.
 
And rowers … yup … rowers know it's there, too.
 
The wall.
 
Megan Chalfant knows it's there.

Chalfant pulls an oar for Seattle Pacific. She was in the varsity eight boat that went all the way to the NCAA national regatta in 2019, with high hopes of returning in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic shut down athletics everywhere around the world.
 
 

So since then, she has taken every available opportunity to aim at the wall. The one that suddenly, invisibly appears at around Mile 21 of a marathon. Or with a lap and a half to go in the 1500-meter freestyle.
 
Or with just a few more pulls left on the erg machine during a long, intense practice in the shellhouse.
 
Except that hitting the wall isn't exactly what Chalfant has in mind.
 
Quite the opposite, in fact.
 
"I always try to push it out further," the 21-year-old Falcon senior said. "I like to see where my breaking point is and try to push myself beyond it, hopefully. It's also really cool to see your hard work pay off. All of your hard work is basically your input, and you're trying to see what your output is going to be.
 
"And there's kind of the curiosity perspective," Chalfant added. "How much better can I get? How much stronger? How much faster?"
 
For now, that's what is driving her and her teammates as the Falcons focus on being as prepared as possible for what they hope will be a 2021 season when racing is allowed to resume.
 
"There has definitely been an adjustment," Chalfant said. "We're pretty used to change by now, so I'm just trying to roll with the punches. It's nice to be back on campus and plug into school and the team again.
 
"It's just trying to find a new normal and a new routine."
 
'WHY NOT TRY IT OUT?'
A new normal and a new routine. In a way, that's the same thing Megan Chalfant, then a freshman out on her own for the first time, was trying to find three autumns ago when she arrived on the SPU campus from her home in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville.
 
As she embarked on her studies in nursing, she also was trying to find a new sport. Chalfant grew up playing soccer, and also ran cross country all four years at Woodcreek High School. But a pair of anterior cruciate ligament injuries – both on her right knee – and the resulting surgical procedures to repair them essentially put an end to her soccer dreams.

 

"I loved being athletic. Playing competitive soccer in college was kind of my goal," Chalfant said. "After those injuries, I transitioned. I still did cross country through high school, but I thought my college athletic career was going to be behind me."
 
Turns out that in the days leading up to her first fall quarter in Seattle, her college athletic career was still very much in front of her.
 
"During orientation week, I saw the rowing team," Chalfant recalled. "I thought, 'Well, hey, I love sports, I love being part of a team. Why not try it out?' "
 
Try it out, she did. And like so many rowers whose first exposure to the sport is at the college level, it was the perfect fit.
 
"Just being in an environment where you're surrounded by people who work hard and are encouraging you – I think that's a really special environment," Chalfant said. "So I'm glad I found it."

 
A SEAT IN THE BIG BOAT
Right from the start, the Falcons were glad they found her. The first race on the schedule during her freshman year was the Head of the Lake Regatta in early November 2017, hosted by the University of Washington on the Montlake Cut.
 
Sitting in the No. 4 seat of Seattle Pacific's 'A' boat was Megan Chalfant.
 
Her position in the boat has changed periodically since then, and that's not necessarily unusual. One thing that hasn't changed is her status as a regular part of that top eight-oared shell. Except for just one event as a freshman, has had a place in it every race of her career.

 

"Being in the varsity boat in your first year sets a pretty high standard for yourself right off the bat," senior teammate Julie Renne said. "She has done so well not only keeping that standard for herself, but raising that standard for herself. Megan has always been an incredible inspiration to the team. She pushes herself, and she does it for other people to push themselves, as well."
 
Caitlin McClain, who became SPU's new rowing coach in early August, saw those same qualities from her very first few days on the job.
 
"She was immediately the first athlete to ask to meet with me to share the goals she has set for herself and kind of share her story," McClain said. "She's definitely an impressive athlete who is very mature in her approach to training and race strategy.
 
"Obviously I'm new to the team and to these athletes," McClain added. "But I definitely see her as someone who exemplifies much of what the ethos of the team is in terms of working hard, holding herself to high standards, but also being an approachable, kind teammate."
 
While Chalfant and the rest of the Falcons do all of that pushing of themselves with an eye toward the final results on the water, there's more to it than just results.
 
For her, it's about the journey to achieve them.
 
One regatta in particular – the San Diego Crew Classic, annually regarded as one of the top events on the West Coast – still stands out in Chalfant's mind. As a freshman in 2018, she helped the Falcons beat out three NCAA Division I schools to reach the six-boat grand final, then beat another D1 to snag fifth place in that championship race.
 
"We really surprised ourselves," Chalfant said. "We got into a really fun flow. Whenever you can find that flow with your teammates, it's so special and hard to describe. But it just feels so good, knowing you're all working and putting in your fullest effort."
 
GOOD ENOUGH ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER
Putting in her fullest effort is the only way Chalfant knows how to do things.

Inside the SPU shellhouse is a record board listing different tests at different distances on the erg machine. The board has five categories on it, and Chalfant's name is under three of those categories.
 
"I'm not super-driven by numbers," Chalfant said. "It's a good validation of your hard work. It's fun to see that validation. But if that board wasn't there, it's not like I wouldn't be pushing myself just as hard."
 
Case in point: A recent workout involved getting on an erg machine for a 6000-meter test, and then, as the meters accumulated, getting faster instead of slowing down – a concept referred to as "negative splitting." McClain had said that those who didn't achieve it might have to try again.

Chalfant, as she usually does, wrote out her race plan on a note card and taped it to her erg. When she finished the test, she knew she had fallen short of the goal.
 
"She put a lot of thought into it, but she had gone out a little harder than she was ready for," McClain said. "The minute she finished, she got my attention and said, 'When do you want me to make it up?' I said, 'Let me look at the data.'
 
"I took a look at it, and while she didn't achieve the goal, she was really pushing herself and was really up against the highest level of her potential in this moment. We chatted about it, and I said, 'I'm not going to make you re-do it. But if you want to, we absolutely will.'"
 
Chalfant absolutely did. So earlier this week, she brought her note card back to that erg, got into the seat, "and executed a beautiful piece," McClain said. "She was able to better the time she set for herself, and ended up having the fastest time of the group."
 
She approaches her academic pursuits with the same mindset. A nursing major, Chalfant is thinking about going into emergency medicine, but is leaving herself open to other possibilities within the medical field. She currently is doing her clinicals in an acute care setting at Seattle Children's Hospital.
 
"Spring quarter, we weren't allowed to be in-person for clinicals. We had to do it online, Chalfant said. "It was a missed opportunity for sure, but we just had to deal with it. It's really nice to be back working with patients in the hospital."
 
Given the demanding nature of nursing and the demanding nature of rowing. Chalfant said she has plenty of help keeping everything in balance.
 
"I have a great support system around me, like the coaches and the athletic department," she said. "I have a teammate who is going through it with me. I feel like we have the same schedules, so we are accountability buddies.
 
"Time management is like that input-output thing: If you're disciplined in one area, you should be disciplined in all areas," Chalfant said. "Hopefully, you make decisions that are going to benefit you in the next week."
 
PROPER PERSPECTIVE IS PARAMOUNT
The next week. Sometimes, during the ongoing stress test that 2020 has been, that's about as far ahead as one can look.
 
In light of a canceled season, remote learning, travel restrictions and concern about the health and well-being of family, friends, and teammates, looking at it from a big-picture point of view has been more important than ever for Chalfant.

 

"It was definitely a bummer. But I had no control over that situation," Chalfant said. "It's about how quickly can you bounce back from this? Overall, our team did a good job. For me, it was, 'What's the next point we're going to get to?' Take the silver lining in all of it and (take) the opportunity to get stronger and better until the next time comes."
 
Even the weather threw a curveball of sorts. On Sept. 24, a driving deluge of rain left the SPU shellhouse flooded in several inches of water. Rowers, coaches, and members of the athletic department staff all waded in to help move erg machines and other items to drier ground in the adjoining hallways.
 
Health concerns left the area closed for an extended period of time before it recently re-opened.
 
"It feels good to be re-connected to our waterway and with the athletic department," Chalfant said. "It definitely feels better than trying to train in the garage at home."
 
Ultimately, it's all with her sights set on being able to race again.
 
"We have a lot of new teammates and we've gotten some new recruits. We did graduate some, but we have a lot of potential in the shellhouse," Chalfant said. "I'm eager to see what the spring is going to look like.
 
"All of the spots are really open, and it's a sport that rewards hard work, so it's up to the girls to decide what those spots are going to be," she added. "Our team is going to be ready when competition comes – whenever it comes. We're just going to be ready."
 
And for Megan Chalfant, being ready doesn't mean hitting the wall.
 
It means pushing that wall out further, to get better … stronger …
 
… faster.