SRA Stories: Sam Halbert

Sam Halbert has a stash of rowing accomplishments under his belt. Only some of his many impressive accolades listed on his University of Washington rower profile include being named to the 2018 U.S. Under-23 National Team in the men's eight, rowing in the U.S. eight at the 2018 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne- finishing fourth in the A final, being named to the 2018 All-Pac-12 team, rowing in UW’s championship eights at the Head of the Charles Regatta, and being in the eight that won the Ben Porter Cup at Head of the Lake. Believe me these are only a few highlights of his many triumphs during his time as a Washington Oarsman. 

Sam Halbert wearing his PAC 12 medal proudly.

Sam, a junior at the University of Washington, began rowing in 6th grade. He said his mom saw that Sammamish Rowing Association (SRA) had middle school summer camps for rowing and he claims this was her way of getting him out of her hair. Despite fearing falling into the water, Halbert fell in love with the sport quickly and spent his middle and high school years rowing for SRA. ​

Sam, sitting in front of the boy with a black shirt, in his middle school rowing days.

Halbert created incredible bonds with his fellow teammates, many of whom he still keeps in contact with. In fact, Halbert still rows with a good amount of his SRA teammates since the Washington Rowing program has a good amount of SRA alumni currently coxing or rowing on the team. Aside from rowing, Halbert is often around his friends or spending time in the Huskey Leadership Academy and Athletes in Action organizations. The Husky Leadership Academy is a “new program designed to develop students' personal leadership through self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and diversity and inclusion training.” ​

“Rowing,” Halbert says, “has helped me realize that one needs variety in life. Put everything you have into practice, but as soon as practice is over, don’t stress about rowing or ergs but instead play an instrument, video games, or hang out with friends. This has helped me when having to perform at a D1 and World rowing level.” With that focus on balance and hard work, Halbert has been able to perform very well at the D1 level. His favorite rowing memory was his first championship race in the Varsity at University of Washington that they ended up winning. He said, “It was the UW vs. CAL duel and we hadn’t won it in 3 years in the varsity, so it was a great win for the team and set a new tone for the season.”​

Being from Redmond, Washington and in school just across the 520 bridge, Halbert still likes to visit his old stomping grounds at the Hod Fowler Boathouse. Over school breaks he comes in with other SRA alumni to keep up his fitness on the ergs. He even visited the novice boys team in fall to show them one of his medals, made of gold, and share his story with them. In middle school he had been quite small, but over his years in high school he grew to be a towering, powerful rower. By sharing his story he hoped to show the novices that they weren’t all to different from him when he was their age. ​

Halbert with the American flag and his teammates at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships (2018).

One of his favorite SRA memories was winning regionals at Brentwood his junior year. “It was a new lineup that we had never tried out before, but we pulled off a win and went on to win regionals,” he said

Looking ahead, Halbert still has his junior and senior years to finish at Washington. He was excited for what he might be doing a few years down the road, but was still focused on his time with the Huskies. “In the future I may go for the Olympics or at least race in other world level events. In the meantime, the team is focused on the winning the IRA in the Varsity event.” 
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Sam was and still is an incredible part of the Sammamish community. Watching him row himself into record books has been nothing but amazing for our organization and supporters to witness. While he may represent the Huskies in his purple and gold we are proud that he once wore the Sammamish red, navy, and white.

Sam with his University of Washington teammates including fellow SRA alumni Elijah (Eli) Maesner in bow seat.