Oliver Page-Kuhr hoped to be part of the beginning, not theend.

Thats why the Northwest School alum chose Stanford tocontinue his rowing career. He also spoke with coaches from Washington, Yale,California and Dartmouth during the college recruiting process.

On paper, the Cardinals resume couldnt compare. Andreally, that was the point.

Growing up in Seattle, UW is the rowing program that Ivehad the most experience with and been the closest to, and they obviously have atremendous history and a program where I have a huge amount of respect for whattheyve done, said Page-Kuhr, who graduated from Northwest last spring andcompeted at the Pocock Rowing Center.

But what made me choose Stanford is that Stanford doesnthave the history or championships that UW does, but I wanted the chance to goto Stanford and build something and be a part of the legacy of helping to builda program into something like UW or California. I wanted to be a part ofstarting that.

Last Wednesday, Page-Kuhr was working a shift at West Marine a boating and fishing supplies store in Ballard when a Zoom call with histeam and Stanfords athletics leadership began at 10 a.m. He says he didntreally think it was anything super serious. He asked his future teammates totext him updates while he worked.

Forty-five minutes later, after the meeting had happened, Iwas taking a break to get a drink of water and I looked at my phone andeveryones like, The programs canceled, he said. It definitely blindsidedme a little bit, because it was just so sudden and we hadnt really gotten any inklingthat this was going to happen.

After the Zoom call ended, Stanford publicly announced that 11 varsity athletic programs mens and womens fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, mens rowing, co-ed and womens sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, mens volleyball and wrestling would be discontinued following the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year. The decision was made to address the athletic departments growing financial deficit, which was projected to be $12 million in FY21 prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and $25 million or more after the virus hit. The cumulative shortfall in the next three years without last weeks comprehensive cuts would have been $70 million.

President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, provost Persis Drell and athletic director Bernard Muir wrote in an open letter that we understand that the timing of this announcement, in early summer and against a backdrop of uncertainty and change across our country, is certainly far from ideal, as is the method by which we had to deliver the news to our student-athletes and coaches today, via Zoom.

However, we felt it was imperative to confront thefinancial challenge before it worsened, to undertake a deliberate andcollaborative decision-making process with our Board of Trustees and campusleadership, and to exhaust all alternatives before making profound changes inour programs, especially during this difficult time. That process has recentlycome to conclusion, and we wanted to share the news as quickly as possible inorder to provide our student-athletes and staff with as much flexibility andchoice as possible.

But how much flexibility does Page-Kuhr really have? The incoming freshman is scheduled to arrive in Palo Alto, California, in September. He said that currently, I havent really considered for a second leaving Stanford. But rowing in college still remains very important to me, and pursuing that at the highest level I can is something thats important to me.

He knows hell be able to do that at Stanford for at least a year. And beyond that, hes prepared to fight for Stanfords rowing future. The programs goal, he said in a text message on Tuesday, is financial independence from the athletic department and reinstatement as a varsity sport.

We were definitely shocked and more than a little bit angry when we heard the news, but I was sort of numb to it for a while because I was like, This cant really be happening, Page-Kuhr said in a phone interview last week. It just felt so sudden and such a major change on what my outlook on the next four years was. But then I sort of settled down and we talked about what were going to do.

Im not sure the teams really ready to talk about what our response is going to be, because were still figuring that out. But we definitely gathered ourselves, and I think were trying to shift from being sad about it to thinking, OK, what can we do?

Thats a question student-athletes across the country arebeing forced to confront. Due to the financial strain of COVID-19, 56 DivisionI sports have been cut this offseason, according to Sports Illustrated. Thegrowing list includes Cincinnati mens soccer, Old Dominion wrestling, Furmanbaseball and many more.

Unfortunately, Page-Kuhrs plight is not unique.

But he has hope that the beginning of his college career wontalso be the end.

Its been pretty hard, he said. Theres been momentswhere I think, OK, well get through this, and then theres moments where itfeels like the worlds crashing in even more than it has been the last fewmonths.

But overall, I think its moving more towards, OK, this isa fight thats not over yet. In some ways, its only just beginning. Weredefinitely moving away from just the despair of it.

See more here:

Northwest School alum Oliver Page-Kuhr was set to row at Stanford. Now, the program will be cut. Where does he go from here? - Seattle Times