Pair pulling for one another

Along the calm waters of Dover Shores, just behind and below the Newport Aquatic Center, Will Prioleau and Evan Fullerton did their best to match the setting.

They were training Tuesday for the pinnacle of the nation’s youth doubles rowing. So they took it easy, one smooth stroke after the next. It was a moment they welcomed.

When they compete in the U.S. Rowing National Youth Championships today, they know they’ll need to turn it on. They know they’ll have to be completely concentrating on their event that takes place at Harsha Lake, just outside of Cincinnati.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing either. On the water, they have found some sort of escape ? a getaway from the pressure that can sometimes come with adolescence.

Most would think there would be a burden for Prioleau, a third-generation rower. His grandfather, Frost, rowed for Princeton in the late 1940s, and his father, Paul, competed at UC Berkeley and qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that boycotted the Games.

Yes, rowing is big in the Prioleau family ? huge, actually.

Paul met his wife Karen while competing in England. She was the coxswain. It wouldn’t be a stretch to believe Will Prioleau was forced to become a rower. But that was certainly not the case.

In fact, Will Prioleau did not start rowing competitively until he was 15. That was two years ago when he joined crew at the NAC in the middle of the year.

“I didn’t feel any pressure,” said Will Prioleau, a Newport Beach resident who recently graduated from Mater Dei High. “I know my dad and my grandpa rowed, and I knew it would make them proud if I did as well.”

Paul Prioleau never steered his son toward rowing, but he always encouraged him to be involved in athletics, he said. After dabbling in soccer and cross country, Will Prioleau made the jump to rowing.

It was as if he found himself. He was involved in nine victories in his first 13 races. “I was amazed at how successful he had been,” Paul Prioleau said. “Will has got it in his blood whether he likes it or not.”

Paul Prioleau is hoping history repeats itself in Ohio this weekend. When he was in high school, he won the men’s varsity doubles national title.

“And, he’s in a lot better shape than I was,” Paul Prioleau said.

Will Prioleau and Fullerton have been working out to stay in shape, constantly following the orders of their coach, Larry Moore.

They’ve both been impressive, Moore said, but Fullerton comes off as a surprise considering his size.

Will Prioleau is 6-foot, 165 pounds, which is small in rowing circles. Fullerton is 5-8, 140.

When he first came to the NAC two years ago, after being disappointed with soccer and baseball, his coach, Paul Prioleau, made him the coxswain.

“I tried rowing originally to get in there and row,” Fullerton said. “I told the coach that it was too boring and I needed to do something else.”

Soon enough, Fullerton had oars in his hands and began outperforming rowers nearly twice his size.

“I guess I just try harder or something,” said Fullerton, a sophomore at Newport Harbor High. “Every time I look at the people and I wonder why they aren’t beating me. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I can’t complain about it.”

There are many times after races when rowers will approach Fullerton and tell him how shocked they are that he is so small.

He said that motivates him to do well in rowing. It’s what helped him contribute to winning the Southwest Regional junior championships on Lake Natoma last month. Fullerton and Will Prioleau won by almost three seconds over second-place Delta. They finished the 2,000-meter course in 7 minutes, 5.7 seconds.

They continued to train behind the NAC, working to perfect their strategy. Their goal is to finish in less than seven minutes.