“Rachel, more than any other coxswain here, does as much as she can—almost like physically as much as she can,” Coffey explains. “She’ll come to our weights practices, and she works out on her own, because she has the mentality of an athlete, and she has this desire to compete.”

Rauh does more for the team than simply attend workouts. She’s a top-notch coxswain, but perhaps more importantly, she is a remarkably effective leader.

“She motivates people to want to pull harder during races,” sophomore Scout Moran says. “She’s just someone you want to impress.”

And as with many great leaders, Rauh’s faith in her team is unflappable.

“In the first day of practice this year,” Moran recalls, “she stood up and she’s like, ‘Hey, look around. This is a really fast team.’ And she kind of [talked] about how we need to get there.”

Rauh’s election as captain came as no surprise to Moran.

“[She] has every quality that you would want your team captain to have,” Moran notes. “I’m a big fan.”

And though the team’s selection of a coxswain as captain was unusual, Radcliffe coach Liz O’Leary understands the decision.

“They respect Rachel for her...enthusiasm and spirit and loyalty to the team,” O’Leary says. “[She demonstrates] loyalty to her teammates, to her team, [and] to the sort of values and principles and goals that we have.”

The senior will try to put these leadership skills to use in this weekend’s Head of the Charles Regatta, where she will cox the top boat in the fall’s most important event for the second straight year. And in characteristic Rauh style, she is ready for the challenge.

“We’re excited to just kind of go after it, see if we can win it, see how fast we can get boats down the course,” Rauh says. “It’ll be a lot of fun.”