On a grey morning at the Rivanna Reservoir, mist sitting low on the water and the shoreline still quiet, the Virginia women’s rowing team slips out of the dock with only the rhythmic sound of oars disturbing the stillness. In one stern of one shell sits sophomore coxswain Brie Joe, tucked neatly behind her crew and speaking into a small microphone. Her tone is controlled, her calls precise in a way that feels almost out of place for someone only 19 years old.
Composure, however, has become Joe’s trademark. In just a year and a half with the program, she has grown into a calm and commanding presence, emerging as a pivotal leader whose maturity and tactical precision belie her age.
However, the coxswain’s path to that seat was anything but expected. A Chicago native, Joe stumbled into coxing almost by accident on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic as she approached the end of seventh grade. After hearing about a local rowing club, she initially envisioned herself as a rower, but after a few sessions on the erg during winter training, she was handed a mic and a cox box when the team got back on the water. While Joe was not sure what to expect, the second she took charge of the boat, something clicked. It was a decision that, in hindsight, would alter the trajectory of her athletic career…