Competition propels freshman

It’s not always easy to see within Liz Pallas-Jacobs, but
it’s there.

Beneath her normally introverted, sometimes quirky and always
pragmatic surface is a powerful competitive fire that drives
her.

Just two years after she picked up a pair of oars for the first
time, the freshman has a seat on UCLA’s varsity eight boat on
the women’s rowing team. Oh yeah, and don’t forget that
she was on the junior national team a year earlier.

“If you put a carrot out there for Liz, she’s going
to do everything she can to get it,” UCLA women’s
rowing head coach Amy Fuller said. “She’s the kind of
person who will do anything to get the job done if she can, and I
know without a doubt she’ll always be working hard and trying
to do her best.”

Her teammates in the varsity eight boat wholeheartedly
agree.

“She leads by example, and we look up to her work
ethic,” teammate Elizabeth Felter said. “(We admire)
her attitude toward rowing.”

The competitiveness and pursuit of excellence of which
Pallas-Jacobs’ peers speak so highly was evident in her high
school activities where she competed in sports such as basketball
and track.

A driven individual, the native of Mission Valley, Calif.,
wasn’t able to stay happy in one sport, and during her junior
year in high school, Pallas-Jacobs found herself at the marina.

“I just got sick of basketball,” Pallas-Jacobs said.
“I love to race; I love to compete, and with rowing, you get
to do that everyday within your team and on the water.”

Pallas-Jacobs took to the sport quickly and won numerous junior
rowing accolades by the end of her first year. Her performance one
weekend at a camp at Stanford caught the eye of then-assistant
coach Amy Fuller, who remembered Pallas-Jacobs when she became
UCLA’s head coach.

“The reason I was interested in her was that she was a
good athlete with good grades,” Fuller said. “When she
voiced interest in UCLA after I came here, I was really excited
because I knew that even though she didn’t have a lot of
rowing experience, she had a lot of potential.”

That potential led her to become one of UCLA’s first and
best recruits since the sport regained its varsity designation, as
well as the recipient of a partial scholarship.

But before making a splash in collegiate athletics,
Pallas-Jacobs still had one more achievement to realize ““
rowing in the Junior World Championships held in Trakii,
Lithuania.

“I had never been out of the country before besides
Canada,” Pallas-Jacobs said. “Getting to go to
Lithuania and getting to row at the world championships was an
amazing experience.”

After she returned, she joined UCLA’s varsity eight boat
where she rowed the stroke position for the majority of the year.
The stroke position is important because it is nearest to the
coxswain, who is responsible for setting the tone for the rest of
the boat. Her competitive nature meant that she was a perfect fit
for the position despite being the youngest girl in the boat.

However, there is a distinct line between Pallas-Jacobs the
competitor and Pallas-Jacobs the person. Her competitive nature
means she strives for perfection in her sport, but when she’s
not competing, her teammates describe her as an easy-going
person.

“She’s quirky, laid back and an incredible
musician,” varsity eight boat co-captain Irene Condella said.
“You’d never know she’s such a competitor just
talking to her.”

Some of her quirks include showing up to morning practice on
Halloween dressed in a full pirate costume, complete with a plastic
parrot. She also has an uncanny ability to juggle, play the guitar
and piano, and learn the violin. Finally, she owns enough designer
uni-suits to outfit the whole team. But her modest nature means she
won’t tell you that.

“I don’t really do much in my spare time,”
Pallas-Jacobs said. “I usually sit in front of my computer
and play my guitar.”

“I’m not very good,” she’s quick to
add.

Pallas-Jacobs is currently undeclared but is looking at history
or another social science. She wants rowing to stay in her future,
though, as a competitor and perhaps as a coach. She attributes her
continued interest in the sport to her role model: her coach.

“(Fuller) is, for sure, one of the things that (keeps me)
rowing,” Pallas-Jacobs said. “She’s an amazing
rower and a name that most people would know. I’m constantly
inspired by her.”

Recently, Pallas-Jacobs shattered her personal-best time on the
ergometer (a device designed to measure a rower’s
capabilities) by a whopping eight seconds. Those closest to her see
her abilities and are excited to watch her grow as a rower.

But for Pallas-Jacobs, it’s never about touting her own
horn. When asked what one thing she would like people to know about
her, she replied, “I’d like people to know, or at least
think, that I work hard and am really dedicated to the
team.”

They all do, Liz.