“We used to skip school and ride our bikes around New York,” Meyers said. “But [we] could be doing worse things.”

Just like they do in the boat, the pair likes to push themselves to their cycling limits. One of their favorite routes was from Meyer’s home to Mount Greylock—the highest mountain in Massachusetts—a 110 mile roundtrip.

Once the time came to make a decision about venturing from home for college, the two held a firm belief that they needed to make separate decisions.

“We had all our official visits separately,” Nesel said. “We didn’t want to influence the other’s opinion.”

But in the end they both made the same but independent decision to come to Harvard. The duo since has excelled with the Crimson, taking the bronze medal together with the first varsity eight at last year’s IRA championships. In the team’s first race in the 2011, Nesel and Meyer helped Harvard’s 1V defeat Delaware by 11 seconds.

“We really want to win the IRAs, and if we can win the national title, [then] we go to English Henley—that’s a big deal,” Nesel says.

Both Nesel and Meyer have worked year round to ensure that their personal and team goals come to fruition. This past summer, Meyer rowed with the U23 national team and it garner a bronze medal in the World Championship, while Nesel trained in France with a former Olympic Champion.

The pair is modest when it comes to their future with crew beyond Harvard, but so far their accomplishments speak for themselves.

Their high school and college coaches summed up the boys’ collective contributions.

“They bring intensity, purpose, and a willingness to train,” said Harvard lightweight coach Charley Butt.

“You just don’t find too many kids willing to do the work they did,” Apfelbaum echoed. “They have become role models for other athletes in the Albany area.”