What was the most productive thing you did over winter break?
Penn freshman lightweight rower Jake Ford set his first of not one, not two, but three under-19 lightweight 5,000-meter, 30-minute, and 60-minute world records.
The 5000m record came first on Jan. 9 , when Ford drove down from his home in Warrington, Pa., set up a camera in the new Nash Land Based Rowing Center , and captured an official record-breaking 16:47.6 time on tape. Not only did he break a 13-year-old record, but he also became the first man to break 17 minutes. The previous record of 17:01.1 was set all the way back in 2001.
Ford struck again at the beginning of the semester. On Jan. 20, he set the 30-minute world record with a distance 8,738 meters, beating his own American record that he set on Jan. 5 at 8,424m.
Not content with the pair of records, Ford set yet another world record, this time for 60 minutes with a distance of 17,090m.
Yet there’s more to Ford than just his strength as a rower. According to coach Nick Baker , Ford’s greatest asset is “just his personality.
“He’s really sincere about everything he does,” Baker added. “He’s got a lot of passion behind the things he does, and I think that’s kind of driven him to the level that he’s at right now.”
But it was more than just sincerity and passion that drove Ford to have a record-setting month so far.
“I realized there were a couple of records I thought my fitness level was capable of achieving,” he said. “I thought it would be a great way to show how hard our team has been working and how effective our training is.”
Ford is quick to chalk his success and motivation up to his teammates and coaches, who have eased his transition to college.
“There’s no way that I would be at the point in my training that I am without the encouragement of my coaches and my teammates,” he said. “They’re all phenomenal teammates, they push me harder than I could imagine at every practice, and it’s really been paying dividends.”
His team chemistry is apparent to all who see it, especially Baker.
“He’s never been anything but great at everything he’s done,” Baker said. “He pushes them when they need to be pushed and he seems to be a great friend as well to all the guys on the team.
“I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that this is just one of many stepping stones that the team as a whole has been making recently.It’s just one of many indicators that our team has given to show that we will have a very successful spring ,”
With three world records under his belt before even starting his first collegiate spring season, Ford has potential far beyond just this season — national honors could be on the horizon.
“The sky’s the limit for Jake,” Baker said. “We could easily see him in years to come on the national team, if that’s something that he wants to do.
“He’s got the strength, he’s got the right attitude and he’s got the determination to be there.”
But all teammate and coach encouragement, all passion and drive aside, one thing’s for sure: setting three world records within his first half-year at Penn felt good for Ford. It’s not hard to guess how that felt for him:
“Well, phenomenal. Obviously,” he said with a laugh.
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