Class Act on the Charles: How Coxswain Duo Caroline and Lucy Handle Competition, Closeness, and Communication.

Throughout the 2025-2026 season, the Boston College Eagles demonstrated numerous high-performance finishes. They held two top 10 finishes at Head of the Charles Regatta, four top three finishes at the Sarasota 2K, and five first place finishes on the opening day of the Knecht Cup Regatta, just to name a few.

No matter their placement throughout the season, coxswains Caroline Jennings and Lucy Fortner proved essential to setting the tone for the Eagles' competitive season. This dynamic duo is a class act in how to handle competition, closeness, and communication as not just teammates, but close friends.

NK Sports recently spoke with Caroline and Lucy to recap their seasons and learn more about how they are setting the standard for effective coxswain relationships. Keep reading to learn more about how these Eagles soared through the 2025-2026 season and beyond.

Work on the Water

NK Sports: Starting off broadly with your recent spring season and Henley for you Caroline, how do you feel both of those went for you?

Caroline Jennings: "For me personally, I had a great experience at Henley. I had never been before, and I think only one other girl in our boat had been before too. We definitely had some highs and lows, naturally as only one team can win. We rowed at both Women's Henley and Royal Henley. We made it through till the quarterfinal rounds at Women's Henley where we lost to Edenborough. At the end of the day, we were just still super grateful to be there because that's a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for crews that aren't from the UK or from Europe."

Lucy Fortner: "Caroline and I are both rising juniors, so we have experienced the same things on the team. This was probably one of our best seasons, mainly team dynamic wise. We had so much fun during winter training, and in the spring, everyone got along so well. I know that's super like cliche to say, but we really had such a good team culture and did a lot of fun things together."

NK Sports: How Does your relationship to each other affect how you work on the water?

Lucy Fortner: "When Caroline and I are on the water, we have so much fun because we think so similarly. This helps us easily prioritize things such as safety even during competitive pieces against one another. When you work with someone and when you trust someone, it makes your life much easier. Being side by side, I would just look at Caroline and Caroline would just know. We wouldn't even have to talk; we would just know what the other was thinking or going to do.

Going through all the bridges on the Charles, like it's so much easier not having to like scream across the water when you're in sync like that. I think that also puts the rowers at ease as well."

Caroline Jennings: "I agree. If we're doing a drill or if we're going through a bridge, because there are only a few bridges that you could fit two boats through at the same time, one of us will just automatically add a pause while the other goes through. It's almost like we can telepathically communicate. I think it also helps that we're best friends.

We room together for every race, and we're living together next year in a house. As Lucy was saying, it puts the rowers at ease when we communicate well with one another, so we can more focus on what they are doing in their blade work rather than who is going to pause or move ahead."

Photo Courtesy of Boston College Athletics

Communication Through Competition

NK Sports: Since you're in the same roster position, how do you balance maintaining a healthy sense of competition with being good friends?

Lucy Fortner: "We both want the best for each other. We're happy when the other one succeeds. We've always had that healthy relationship, which think is rare to find with coxswains sometimes. We've talked after practice about stuff we're frustrated with, and it's just another way to communicate and process things. It's not like we're waiting for the other's downfall.

At the start of every season, we're in mixed boats and we don't know where either of us will be, but we can talk about it and understand that we'll be happy for one another regardless of where we end up."

Caroline Jennings: "I think we're just always happy for each other's successes. You know, if Lucy's doing well, that makes me happy. I don't necessarily feel any tension or anything of that sort ever. We're just able to talk about things openly. I feel like it's rare to find especially when there's only one seat for a coxswain in every boat."

NK Sports: What do you think is something unique about your coxing style that not only sets you apart from other coxswains elsewhere, but also from each other?

Lucy Fortner: "The more Caroline and I cox right next to each other, because we can hear each other, the more similar we become."

Caroline Jennings: "We just morph into one."

Lucy Fortner: "We always joke about that, but I feel like Caroline and I have very different personalities. That's probably the biggest difference, because we do things such as drills and the little details the same, but that's kind of come together with time too."

Caroline Jennings: "I think what I have observed; is that Lucy is very much so your hype woman. She will, she will be there for you, cheering you on the whole time."

Lucy Fortner: "Oh, yeah!"

Caroline Jennings: "I think I'm a little bit more technical and reserved. This season, I have learned to be more positive and that I can't keep making all technical calls the majority of the time. I have to give the rowers positive feedback as well."

The Road to Boston College

NK Sports: What was your coxing journey to BC like? What was it about the school or the program that helped you know it was the right fit?

Lucy Fortner: "I feel like through my recruiting, I had good conversations with the coaches and obviously for a cox that's the like the biggest thing. You want them to get to know you, and you want to trust them. I also think the coaches saw something in me before I even saw it myself.

You know you have four years with your high school coaches, and you have a really good relationship with them. When you go to college you kind of start from scratch and you don't understand a new coaching style right away. You don't understand what they're looking for out of practice, and that just took time. Now I feel, I never thought I'd get to this point, but I have a relationship with the coaches where I can talk to them even about the little things."

Caroline Jennings: "Before coming to BC, I was a men's coxswain. I had coxed women for maybe like one race at my club team. I'm also from Boston, so I have coxed on the Charles since the age of 11, 12. So for me, the steering portion, I guess, was always like a second nature, but the switching of the vocal portion of it from men to women was a transition. I think that aspect was the most intimidating part of joining a collegiate women's varsity team.

Going on my official, I saw just the team itself was super fun when they needed to be, but then they also could lock in and switch to that serious side. That's what drew me in, because I wanted a team that wasn't just 100% all focused all the time. If you're going to be doing this for so many hours every single week, there has to be a fun portion to it. I also think the coaches honestly had a little bit more faith in myself than I did, which was comforting to hear. Knowing that they trusted me, even when I was kind of unsure of myself.

Even now it is still the same, I get super, super nervous for races. Our head coach knows that I'm nervous, but, you know, she knows that I can do it as well. Knowing that the coaches have that faith in me is just super awesome and something that I love about our coaching staff."

Lucy Fortner: "I 100% agree."

Photo Courtesy of Boston College Athletics

Mental Reframing

NK Sports: Knowing that you may be nervous before a race, how do you think you have reoriented those feelings and put a positive spin on it?

Caroline Jennings: "Since I was little, my dad has been running marathons. The one thing that he would always say to me before he raced or before I had a sporting event is ‘if you're nervous, it just means you care. The nerves are good. If you're not nervous, I would be concerned.' I feel like every single time I race, that's what's in the back of my mind. I use that as fuel to get down the course, so that's for me at least what I've been going off of."

Lucy Fortner: "Before a race I get quiet, and everyone thinks I'm mute, but I'll just be checking the boat, doing what I need to do. I just enter a focused zone. That's really all there is to it."

Photo Courtesy of Boston College Athletics

Responsibilities of the Future

NK Sports: Looking forward to the fall season, what do you think is your overall goal in terms of yourselves and what you're hoping for the team?

Lucy Fortner: "I think for me it's just to keep improving and as an upperclassman, be inclusive of the freshmen and really try to get to know them. Boston is a big city and hard to adjust to, so helping them where I can would be great. I also want to start doing more team things together. That's a goal that is not really all about me, but it is a goal, nonetheless."

Caroline Jennings: "I completely agree with that. Our senior class that just graduated was super awesome. I think we want to follow in their footsteps and their leadership. We should be thinking about how we can make the incoming freshmen and even the sophomores feel as included as possible because now, we're upperclassmen. Which saying I'm upperclassmen now feels so weird."

Lucy Fortner: "I know right."

Caroline Jennnings: "Now we have to step into, I mean, we've kind of always been in a leadership position given our role, but that role of, you know, keeping everybody included and making sure everybody feels that they really have a place. And of course, making boats go as fast as possible!"

NK Sports: On the topic of being an upperclassman, with the passage of the new NCAA 5th year rule would you consider taking that fifth year and continuing your journey? Or do you think that your journey with rowing will end when you graduate?

Lucy Fortner: "I think I'd take it for what it is and move on. Mainly I don't see myself doing another year of school. If I were to though, it would be something I would consider because I don't ever want to truly stop. I love being a part of a team, but I think at some point, you unfortunately have to accept your experience for what it was and move on."

Caroline Jennings: "I think for me, I think I would definitely consider it. I would love to get my master's anyway after I graduate. I really want to work in architecture, and that's just not something that schools usually will allow you to do in undergrad if you're a D1 athlete. So, I would love, if I'm able to take the 5th year, to do it. I remember even after Henley ended and we didn't qualify, I was sitting at dinner with my dad, and I was just discussing with him like, oh my gosh, I like, I miss it. I just love it so much.

In a few weeks, I'm coxing at my old club team for Cambridge Boat Club because they have a race for a masters boat. I'm super excited because I haven't coxed in a week and a half and I'm going a little crazy. So, I feel like I will definitely consider it."