By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Due to scoliosis Morgan Ross was forced to drop her plans of collegiate track and field.
So the 2018 Brandon High School graduate picked up an oar.
“I looked at other sports I could possibly do,” said Ross. “I found rowing at Grand Valley and I ended up falling in love with it.”
Ross, 19, competed in track and field during high school years at Brandon, but found that it was too difficult to do with her scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. She competed in shot put and discus, which required twisting and was painful for her.
“Rowing actually strengthened it,” said Ross about her back. “I’m doing really, really well.”
This past year, the Grand Valley novice women squad, which Ross is a part of, took first place in most of their events.

During fall, the races, called regattas, are mostly 5ks, and during the spring season they are mostly 2ks, called sprints. The team competes in eight person groups and in four person groups.
“In the fall we had the Indianapolis Eagle Collegiate Regatta, and we got first in the eights and second in the fours,” she said. “In spring we did even better because we had more races, we took first at every regatta we went to except Jefferson Dadville, where we came in second in our triple crown.”
Ross said the rowing has improved her back, and it doesn’t cause her pain anymore.
“With track, the twisting just wasn’t there. I was also in band on the drum line,” she said. “What the problem was, I was twisting so much and not getting relief, and I was going to band and it was compacting. With rowing, it forces me to use my back a bit more.”
Ross plans to be on the team again for her second year at Grand Valley, and she enjoys the challenge it presents.
“I’m a starboard rower, we row on one side, so you have to find balance. We call it finding the set,” she said. “When your oar is not in the water, that’s when it’s off set. If you get a new line up, you have to be able to figure out the person ahead of you and get in time. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge.”
That challenge for Ross is more prominent in the 2k races than in the 5k races.
“I personally believe 2ks are worse than 5ks,” she said. “You have to pace yourself or you’re just going to be dead. In the first 500 meters, we’re focused on getting up in front, then the next 500 we focus on lengthening, and in the third is where you make a move and up the rate and give some power. Then the last you up the rate a lot.”
Ross also laughed when asked if they had ever tipped their boat.
“We’ve never tipped the boats,” she said. “It’s hard to get that done, but I’ve seen it happen.”