The chant carried across High Rock Lake as Catawba College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends leaned forward in their seats, paddles poised above the water and eyes fixed on drummer Lee Ball.
Just a few races earlier, many of them had struggled to paddle in rhythm. Now, with a gold medal on the line, they moved as one.
That transformation, from a newly assembled crew with little experience to champions at the Rowan Chamber Dragon Boat Festival, became a story of teamwork, adaptability and a few unlikely heroes along the way.
For years, Catawba has fielded a team for the annual festival, bringing together members of the College community for a day of competition on High Rock Lake. The team had enjoyed strong races before, but a gold medal had remained out of reach.
This year brought a new opportunity. With the festival taking place during the academic year, students could join the boat alongside faculty, staff, alumni and friends.
The challenge was finding enough paddlers.
Team captain Noah Upchurch began recruiting across campus, but the first weeks of a semester come with no shortage of demands. Classes, work, performances and other commitments competed for potential paddlers' time.
So Upchurch turned to students.
Among the first to answer were members of Catawba’s Solar Vehicle Team, fresh from their summer racing experience along Route 66. Markiian Ivaniv ’27, Kaitlyn Evans ’29, Phoebe Dell’Arena ’29, Caleb Schell ’26 and Kaden Reynolds ’26, were quick to volunteer.
“If we can race a solar car, we can row a boat,” Ivaniv said.
Others followed, including philosophy faculty member Kristian Cantens and Catawba Beach Volleyball Coach Suzana Andrade De Oliveira. By the time the team gathered for its first and only practice, just two days before the festival, 16 of its 20 paddlers had never competed in a dragon boat race.
Finding a rhythm did not come easily.
The crew worked through individual techniques and the challenge of synchronizing 20 paddles in one long boat. By the end of practice, the paddlers understood how to generate power individually. The question was whether they could harness it together.
“We’ll race our race and stay in sync,” said Ball, who served as the boat’s drummer. “If we do those things, we can go home proud.”
The professional steerer assigned to the Catawba boat offered one final piece of advice before race day: Stretch and get some rest.
The rest part proved difficult.
The night before the festival was the Center for the Environment’s annual lock-in, when students from across campus gather for late-night environmental education, games, karaoke and other activities. Upchurch, Cheyenne Thompson, and several other team members were among those who stayed well into the night, learning about moths, playing games, and singing more than their share of karaoke.
By sunrise, the paddlers were headed for High Rock Lake, some with slightly hoarse voices, but all ready to race.
Their first heat provided a wake-up call.
The Catawba boat went to the starting line with only 16 paddlers. Despite plenty of energy, the crew struggled to stay together. Paddles collided. Rhythm disappeared. The boat that had practiced finding its collective power could not quite summon it.
Back on shore, the team began searching for a solution.
“That was my best race,” said Megan Smith ’21. “I know what we need to do as a team so everyone can feel that way and race together.”
Smith suggested changing how the paddlers followed Ball’s drum. Rather than relying primarily on the sound, which could become confusing with other teams racing nearby, they would watch his hand.
“Watch Lee’s hand,” she told them. “When it hammers down to strike the drum, your paddle should drive into the water.”
They had little time to test the idea. Catawba was scheduled for the first race of the second heat, only minutes after finishing its first.
The difference was immediate.
As Ball’s arm came down, the paddles entered the water together. Instead of 20 individual efforts, the boat began moving with one collective rhythm.
The second race did not begin perfectly. Catawba fell behind early before team member Zach Howard called out, “Look up! Look to Lee!”
The paddlers responded.
Coming from roughly half a boat length behind, Catawba surged across the finish line to win the heat by less than a second.
“Who are we?” Ball shouted.
“Catawba!” the boat answered.
Between its first and second races, the team had cut approximately eight seconds from its time, moving from near the bottom of the standings into the top 10.
Asked by the festival announcer how the team had improved so dramatically, Andrade De Oliveira offered a simple explanation.
“We pulled together as a team,” she said. “It is that simple.”
With nearly two hours before the championship race, the team returned to Catawba’s “Good Goes Far” tent to regroup. Some ate. Some talked strategy. Others made up for the previous night’s lack of sleep, including Upchurch and Ivaniv, who were spotted napping in camp chairs.
Then came the final.
Catawba was still short of a full boat. Students Elena Strozewski ’27, Sam Harris ’28, and Delilah Hatheway ’27 had helped during the second heat but were also paddling with the Rowan County Young Professionals team, whose final race conflicted with Catawba’s.
As crews prepared to line up, Upchurch turned to the neighboring Rowan-Cabarrus Navigators, who offered two paddlers to help fill the boat.
It was another new configuration for a team that had already spent the day learning to adapt.
At the starting line, the paddlers settled into position. Their paddles dipped lightly into the water. Their attention turned toward Ball and his raised arm.
Then came the start.
This time, Catawba launched together.
With each beat of the drum, the paddles struck the water in unison. Near the halfway point, Upchurch called for one more push.
“One more quarter!”
The crew dug deeper.
Catawba crossed the finish line having shaved another second from its previous time and secured the College’s first gold medal at the Rowan Dragon Boat Festival.
The celebration that followed belonged to more than the paddlers in the boat. It reflected the students who answered a last-minute call, the experienced team members who helped newcomers find their rhythm, the neighboring team willing to lend paddlers and a crew that learned over the course of one morning how much stronger it could become together.
For a team that began with uncertainty and just one practice, the lesson was fittingly Catawba: Individual strengths can go much farther when everyone is moving in the same direction.
And after earning its first gold, the Catawba crew already has something to chase when the dragon boats return to High Rock Lake next year.
You can watch each race here:
