New York natives and long-time friends Austin Meyer, center, and Tom Nesel, left, row together on men’s lightweight crew. Since high school, the two have trained together. Three years ago, they went to the US National Championships as a double, finishing in twelfth place in the event.

One hundred ten mile bike rides and dinner at Poppi’s house—those are just a few of the things that varsity lightweight rowers Austin Meyer and Tom Nesel do together in their homestate of New York, where they live a mere 25 minutes apart.

Now the juniors race together on the first varsity eight for Harvard, but their connection goes much further back than workouts on the Charles.

Both coming from the Albany area, Nesel and Meyer raced together in a double for the Albany Rowing Center during the summers of their four years in high school.

In the summer before their senior year, they decided that they wanted to take the competition to the next level.

“Senior year, we started talking about trying to go to the Junior World Championships in the double,” Nesel said. “To do that, we had to row all of the school year as well.”

Nesel ended up joining Meyer’s high school crew team, even though he went to a different school, and became the only non-Shaker high school student to race for it. Because of the anomaly, Nesel was only allowed to race with Meyer in the double.

The pair ended up winning the US National Championships in 2008 and making the under-18 US team. At the World Championships in Linz, Austria, they placed 12th, the highest finish for an American team in that event. The result was especially impressive given that the two lightweights were competing in an openweight event.

Meyer and Nesel attribute much of their success to the dedication and guidance under Shaker coach Burt Apfelbaum.

Apfelbaum had fun with the rowers, referring to them as “Tweedledee” and “Tweedledum,” while also dubbing Meyer as “Captain America,” and Nesel as “Flipper,” due to his flip into the water after his ore stuck during a National Regatta practice row.

“He was super supportive,” Meyer said. “[He] helped us to get to Nationals and World Championships...He was almost a second father.”

Nesel also had a very close relationship with Apfelbaum.

“He lit a fire under my [seat] when I needed it,” Nesel added.

Nesel and Meyer still go to dinner at Apfelbaum’s house whenever they are home.

Off the water, the duo bonded over their love of bike riding.

The two would often drop everything and take their adventures off-road, much to the disapproval of Meyer’s mom.