Emily Regan (2023) - Hall of Fame - Michigan State University Athletics

Emily Regan

Induction:
2023
Class:
2010

Emily Regan
Rowing (2007-10)
Williamsville, N.Y.
MSU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023

HALL OF FAME FEATURE: CLASS OF 2023

Emily Regan is a Spartan Hall-of-Famer of rare air.

Big Ten Athlete of the Year? The Hall of Fame has scores of those. Olympian? Those are more rare, but there are still several. Gold medal winner? The Hall even has some of those.

But how about an Olympic gold medalist who only began participating in that sport when they arrived at Michigan State?

"It's probably a very different feeling for me than a lot of the others," Regan jokes. "I literally started and learned my sport at Michigan State. That was the start of it all for me. I would not have had the opportunities or career I enjoyed if it were not for that first year at Michigan State where the coaches – specifically novice coach Christiina Tymoszewicz Donley – taught me how to row, saw some potential in me, and stayed on me to be my best."

Emily Regan, HOF

Collegiate rowing is a rare sport – coaches actively seek out athletes who are on their campus that are not continuing in their sports. Regan was one of those – she was a multi-sport athlete in high school, but thought she'd be putting all of that behind her when she enrolled at MSU. At AOP, her mother, Barbara, got into a conversation with the coaches who were recruiting these high school athletes to try a new sport. Her mother spent a good amount of time trying to talk Emily into giving it a try on their drive home from the MSU orientation back to Buffalo.

When she returned to campus for move-in, the 6-2 Regan was paired up with her new roommate, the 5-1 Lindsey Archambo. Their mothers saw a flyer about joining the rowing team, and urged their daughters to give it a try.

"We did it to appease our moms," a laughing Regan remembers.

And thus began her journey. The first year was rough, but Regan had the body type (tall with broad shoulders), and an amazing work rate that the coaches noticed early on. She remembers that as a sophomore in 2007-2008, the leadership in the senior class and the closeness of the novices was the first time that she felt things "clicked." Rowing was fun, she was seeing results, and the team was experiencing success. Her natural gifts as an athlete combined with being a quick study in the techniques required for the sport, Regan had ascended into the MSU varsity eight – the top Spartan boat – and won her first gold medal at the 2008 Big Ten Championships.

It was her first of three straight, in fact.

Regan, who graduated in 2010 a three-time Big Ten Champion in the varsity eight, helped the Spartans to two Big Ten titles and three consecutive top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championship regatta throughout her career.

The 2010 Big Ten Rowing Athlete of the Year and Pocock First Team All-American, Regan was also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, two-time All-Big Ten pick (2008, 2010) an earned All-Central Region honors for each of the final three seasons of competition for the Green and White.

Quick study indeed.

In the fall of her senior year, she attended an ID camp at Notre Dame and, from there, earned an invite to train with the national team after her collegiate career finished. After a top-10 finish at NCAAs in 2010, Regan moved on to Princeton, New Jersey, to start what would become a near-decade of residency with the US National Rowing Program in Princeton.

As Regan was getting ingrained with Team USA, the Red, White, and Blue was in one of the most dominant periods in all of women's rowing history. Regan's first international races – in the U23 World Championships the summer after her graduation – resulted in a gold medal in the eight, which began her transition from college standout to international mainstay.

Team USA didn't just win during Regan's time in the storied women's eight. It *dominated*. The US Women's eight went 11 years undefeated at major international meets, and Regan joined the program four years into that dominance. The 2016 gold medal at the Rio Olympics was the third straight for the Americans, and Regan – in the bow seat of the boat, furthest from the coxswain – was the first US rower across the finish line. Three years prior, (2013), Regan was a part of the women's eight which set a world-record time at World Rowing Cup III in Rotsee/Lucerne, Switzerland. That time of 5:54.160 is a record which stood for eight years.

Over her career, Regan earned 17 international medals: an Olympic gold, five gold, one silver, and one bronze medal from World Championships, as well as four gold, one silver, and four bronze from World Cup competition.

"I have to thank the Hall of Fame committee for considering me for induction," says Regan. "I owe so much to both Christiina Donley and former head coach Matt Weise for being a huge influence in my career. Literally – without these two guiding and pushing me, my adult life would look so very different. My entire Spartan rowing family was an inspiration daily, because they made me want to be better for them. And obviously, the largest thank you has to go to my family – my largest and most supportive cheering section in whatever I choose to do."

Since her retirement from Team USA in 2021, Regan has begun work on her MBA and between classes, she serves as an assistant coach for the men's heavyweight team at Boston University. Last season, she guided the Terriers' third eight to a 10th-place finish at the IRA National Championships. Regan had begun her coaching career while still an active member of the US National team, early on coaching at a club and also aiding the US Rowing coaches during summer development camps to help prepare athletes to compete at the USRowing Summer National Championships.

Her next steps? Combining her wealth of experience on the water with her degree. She's looking to pursue a career in helping organizations create cultures of excellence.

Much as she did as an undergrad and professional athlete.