Senior and Chanhassen, Minnesota, native Allie Lohrenz is giving regular updates this year from Porter Boathouse and around the country as the women's rowing team travels through the 2018-19 season. A third generation Wisconsin student-athlete (grandfather played football and mom was a rower), Lohrenz played lacrosse and competed in motocross before walking onto the Badger rowing program her freshman year.

MADISON, Wis. -- Last week, the Badgers of Porter Boathouse proudly welcomed one of their own back on campus for the weekend as 11 new members were inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame. Kris Thorsness, a 1982 graduate who hails from Anchorage, Alaska, walked on to the women's openweight program her freshman year in the fall of 1978. From there, she went on to have an exceptionally successful and highly decorated rowing career at the elite level.

Thorsness shelves an impressive number of accolades. Her collegiate highlights include two runner-up finishes and a national championship as a Badger. Concluding her career in Madison, Thorsness transferred her talents to the esteemed U.S. National Team from 1982-88. As if simply competing for the national team was not enough already, she won three world championship silver medals in 1982, '83 and '87. Need more? Thorsness and her boatmates also went on to win the first-ever Olympic gold for an American women's crew in the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. She bid farewell to competing at the elite level with a final trip to the 1988 Olympic Games, where she supported her teammates in Seoul as a spare due to injury. From there, Thorsness went on to practice law with the degree she obtained from Boston University while training with the national team.

Following her induction, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to chat with Kris and ask a few questions about her Hall of Fame legacy, her experiences as a Badger and life as an athlete in general. Here's what she had to say…

What was your first reaction when you found out that you were going to be inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame?

"I wasn't expecting it, but I was really pleasantly surprised. There are a whole bunch of women who should be in that Hall of Fame. Women with boats named after them in the boathouse. Yup. All of those women need to be in the Hall of Fame…"

You were a walk-on for Wisconsin. Typically these students have an athletic background. What sports did you play in high school?

"I played pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I played basketball and volleyball and tennis. I had previously also cross country ski raced and did some track and field… I grew up doing a lot of hiking and camping and kayaking and canoeing, growing up in Alaska."

You competed as an athlete before Title IX came into play. What are some of the areas of support you wish you would have had during your time as a student athlete that you think would have helped you?

"The women's team certainly benefited from Title IX, and Title IX emboldened and empowered the women to first ask and then demand appropriate facilities and training equipment. You guys get all of that. All that equipment now and all the clothing, the sweatshirts and training clothes and all that kind of stuff. I remember when we were first given trou. You see the pictures of the 1979 boat in the display cases out there. You see we're all wearing shorts that we bought, and the racing shirts we're wearing were given to us on race day and then we gave them back. We got no equipment from the athletic department…seeing that all the women now have that kind of equipment, because there were years where the men had trou, t-shirts, all of that, we didn't have anything like that but little by little those things came along."

How would you say that your experiences as a Badger helped you as you competed with the U.S. National Team and at the Olympic level?

"It's not always easy to row at Wisconsin. Even with the beautiful boathouse and facilities now, we don't have the warm winters that they get in the southeast or the Pacific coast… we didn't go away for spring break, we spent spring break on the stadium stairs and in tanks, we were just outworking everyone. That was really what our secret was. When I went to the National Team Selection Camp, I found myself in the midst of these incredible athletes. I used the tools I had learned at Wisconsin about doing the hard work and not complaining about it. Just do it. That really helped me, the mental toughness that I had developed training at Wisconsin. I wasn't afraid."

Was there anything that you felt like you spent too much time focused on or worried about that you wish you hadn't?

"I think a lot of what helps drive you is your own insecurity or fear of failure. I still worry too much, but then again, maybe it was good for me. Maybe I wouldn't have been as successful. I wasn't a big part of the social scene in college or afterwards. I felt a little isolated, that's maybe the word I would use. I wish I hadn't worried so much about that because I think I was a good team member and I loved my teammates. Don't get me wrong, we had some pretty raucous parties, but our focus was elsewhere. When I look back on it, do I feel like I missed out on anything? Absolutely not."

A final question for good merit, what was your LEAST favorite workout on or off the water?

"I'll tell you the worst, timed runs! We used to do a lot of running, and timing it just took all the fun out of it! I'm much happier as a member of a team, you'll never see me racing alone."

 
Kris was joined by several current Badger rowers on the evening of her Hall of Fame induction. She wishes to thank the many faces who made the event "the highlight" of her weekend, sharing her pride and warmth in the fact that no matter how long it has been or how far you go, you never stop being a Badger.