Completed Event: Rowing at ACC Championships on May 16, 2025 , , 5th/89 points
/
Final
Rowing
at ACC Championships
Duke Rowing Recruit Spotlight: Morven Thomson
3/8/2022 5:37:00 PM | Rowing
DURHAM – Head Coach Megan Cooke Carcagno and the Duke rowing program are pleased to announce the addition of Morven Thomson, who will compete for the Blue Devils in the 2022-23 season.
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Thompson currently attends The Glasgow Academy and competes for the Glasgow Academy Boat Club. She is coming off a highly successful calendar year in 2021 that saw her win the National Schools Regatta in the Women's Junior Coxless 4. Thomson was also a member of the winning Women's Junior 4+ crew at the Henley Royal Regatta. She netted two medals at the British Junior Championships last year, collecting silver in the WJ 4- and bronze in the WJ 8+. The incoming Blue Devil holds a record for The Glasgow Academy 2-kilometer erg time (7:11.3).
Morven is the daughter of Donald Thomson and Joanna Boag-Thomson.
How did you get started in rowing?
MT: By accident! One of my friends wanted to try rowing so her mum organized a session for four of us to join in at Glasgow Schools Rowing Club. She didn't want to go alone, so I went along with her. Two weeks later, out of the four of us that started, I was the only one from that group left. After a few months of rowing, I was entered in a quad for a competition which, to my surprise, we won. At that point, I was still swimming competitively and playing field hockey for my school but gave up both sports two years after in order to allow me to focus more on my rowing.
Why did you choose to row for Duke?
MT: I think Duke has a really good balance of both academics and athletics – usually when people say that, it might suggest that they both average out to be mediocre, whereas at Duke, the standard for both are very high. The team spirit looks great, people seem to push each other to be better, which I think is always good and creates a culture of good performances and role models within that.
Personally, I'm used to rowing out of a boat house which isn't in great condition, it looks as if it's about to fall into the river or just collapse completely so when I looked at Duke's facilities, I was in awe. I don't think that facilities are the key to success but if you have access to some of the best, I don't see why you'd want anything else.
What impact do you plan to make in your Duke rowing career?
MT: I'm looking forward to going to different competitions in different states with the team. I'm a very competitive person and I want to do well in things so I hope I can use that positively within the team to motivate other people to want their goals as one team. I want to be able to encourage other people in the team to want to win as much as I do and therefore train hard together in order achieve what we want to. I want to keep up my Great Britain journey – I was so close to going to Junior World Championships in 2020 until GB pulled out so I am determined to make the team in 2021 and I'd really like to progress to the U23 World Championships. I'd also like to keep rowing for GB in the senior team after my time at Duke.
What stuck out to you about the team that made the decision to attend Duke feel right?
MT: The student-athletes that I talked to during the recruitment process seemed really eager to help find new people for their team which I thought was a good sign. They seemed very enthusiastic about Duke and were very informative which helped me make the right decision for me.
#GoDuke
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Thompson currently attends The Glasgow Academy and competes for the Glasgow Academy Boat Club. She is coming off a highly successful calendar year in 2021 that saw her win the National Schools Regatta in the Women's Junior Coxless 4. Thomson was also a member of the winning Women's Junior 4+ crew at the Henley Royal Regatta. She netted two medals at the British Junior Championships last year, collecting silver in the WJ 4- and bronze in the WJ 8+. The incoming Blue Devil holds a record for The Glasgow Academy 2-kilometer erg time (7:11.3).
Morven is the daughter of Donald Thomson and Joanna Boag-Thomson.
How did you get started in rowing?
MT: By accident! One of my friends wanted to try rowing so her mum organized a session for four of us to join in at Glasgow Schools Rowing Club. She didn't want to go alone, so I went along with her. Two weeks later, out of the four of us that started, I was the only one from that group left. After a few months of rowing, I was entered in a quad for a competition which, to my surprise, we won. At that point, I was still swimming competitively and playing field hockey for my school but gave up both sports two years after in order to allow me to focus more on my rowing.
Why did you choose to row for Duke?
MT: I think Duke has a really good balance of both academics and athletics – usually when people say that, it might suggest that they both average out to be mediocre, whereas at Duke, the standard for both are very high. The team spirit looks great, people seem to push each other to be better, which I think is always good and creates a culture of good performances and role models within that.
Personally, I'm used to rowing out of a boat house which isn't in great condition, it looks as if it's about to fall into the river or just collapse completely so when I looked at Duke's facilities, I was in awe. I don't think that facilities are the key to success but if you have access to some of the best, I don't see why you'd want anything else.
What impact do you plan to make in your Duke rowing career?
MT: I'm looking forward to going to different competitions in different states with the team. I'm a very competitive person and I want to do well in things so I hope I can use that positively within the team to motivate other people to want their goals as one team. I want to be able to encourage other people in the team to want to win as much as I do and therefore train hard together in order achieve what we want to. I want to keep up my Great Britain journey – I was so close to going to Junior World Championships in 2020 until GB pulled out so I am determined to make the team in 2021 and I'd really like to progress to the U23 World Championships. I'd also like to keep rowing for GB in the senior team after my time at Duke.
What stuck out to you about the team that made the decision to attend Duke feel right?
MT: The student-athletes that I talked to during the recruitment process seemed really eager to help find new people for their team which I thought was a good sign. They seemed very enthusiastic about Duke and were very informative which helped me make the right decision for me.
#GoDuke
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