Name: Megan Klyczek-Lawn
Team: Lightweight and Heavyweight
Years you rowed at UB: 2009-2013
Walk on or experienced: Walk on!
Favorite rowing memories: I have many fond memories of the rowing team,
memories of amazing rows, beautiful morning sunsets, bonding during bus rides to regattas, and of course, meeting my best friend, who eventually became my wife. I have memories of waking up at horrifyingly early hours of the morning and riding in the novice van with Coach Liz (as I’m half asleep) to practice. I’ll never forget the intense training days (when it hurt to get out of bed in the morning) and we were told to drink protein powder shakes (they were always chunky no matter how much you shook that powder/water mixture….my favorite was chocolate). One of my fondest memories was during a lightweight get-together when all the rowers decided to pick out spirit animal names for each other. I was a bear (because the team saw me as their mama. And of course…I have very fun memories of pigging out on ice cream sundaes every night before a 5k erg test. It started with me and two other women, and slowly grew to the point where almost half the team was “eating extra fat and protein” the night before the 5k. I think it actually helped us perform better!
What rowing accomplishment are you most proud of: Becoming the athlete I
always wanted to be, losing about 50 pounds, and placing at Dad Vails in the
lightweight boat.
Major: Biomedical Sciences and Nursing
Current occupation: Nurse Practitioner at the National Institutes of Health
Advice to current rowers: Give it all you got, every time. Prove to yourself how
strong you really are.