Madison Molitor making his own noise in world of rowing

To the outside world, Madison Molitor’s rowing career at the University of Washington has been silent as the “P” in swimming.

OK fine, there is no “P” in swimming, but you know what I mean. Despite being an international sport of finely tuned athletes, rowing isn’t the top story on SportsCenter or the featured program around the state.

“There isn’t a lot of outside exposure to rowing,” Molitor, a state champion freestyle swimmer for Moses Lake High School who was on the second varsity eight as a sophomore, once told the Seattle Times. “Everyone can relate to playing football and basketball, and that’s a really cool aspect about those sports. But one of the really cool aspects about rowing is that it really is a tight community.”

Molitor made the under-23 USA team. He’s in the men’s eight boat and will see if he can’t take that gold medal-performance in the varsity eight at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships to the next level on the international stage. The UW boat won the silver in the varsity eight at the 2018 Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships.

Molitor’s rowing career at UW also included a gold in the second varsity eight at the 2017 Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships and Pac-12 Championships.

Where LeBron or the Warriors grab the headlines, the guys that glide across the river in the shadows, both figuratively and literally (with their early morning workouts) do great things outside the scope of the 24-hour newscycle.

I didn’t get a chance to see Madison swim, but I do remember the excitement in Ander’s eye when he talked about setting the school record in the 400 freestyle relay (3 minutes, 14.68 seconds) back in 2015. Madison was a senior and Ander was the kid, a freshman running with the A-team, which also included Brenden Eslick and Zack Johnston.

“It was such an honor to be a part of that team and to set it with my brother was pretty special,” Ander said.

Ander was a part of the 400 relay team that erased Madison’s name from the record in 2018. That 400 freestyle relay record now belongs to Noah Heaps, Dylan Bond, Zach Washburn and Ander, who busted a 3:13.57 in the prelims of the two-day Washington state swimming and diving championships last year at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

That same relay turned right around the next day and broke their own record (3:11.39) in the finals to finish third.

Ander followed Madison into swimming, doing what big brother does. So I wasn’t terribly shocked when I asked if he planned a collegiate swim career.

“You know, I think I’d like to try crew,” Ander said.

Who knows, maybe the USA boat might include two state championship swimmers from Moses Lake. But until then, Madison is making his own noise, even if only the world of rowing can hear it.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer a the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com