Twins Joshua and Jason Louser hold impressive titles in rowing and swimming respectively. Their accomplishments before and during high school have led them to pursue their passion throughout college, and for Jason, even beyond.

Joshua Louser started swimming when he was eight alongside his brother Jason. But in Josh’s junior year he switched from swimming to rowing. He participated in a summer rowing program in Riverhead and said that he loved it. He then started training with a private coach and completely transitioned to rowing after about one or two months.

Joshua started rowing for fun, but as he quickly improved, he started talking to colleges.

“I had to make a choice, to take a risk. Stop swimming that I had been doing for so long and go out of my comfort zone.” -Joshua

“My original intentions weren’t for college. It kind of came along with it,” Joshua said.

Joshua will be rowing at Cornell University starting in the fall. However, he doesn’t plan on going professional.

“I want to continue to have fun with the rowing team and be a family with the rowing team at college while continuing my academics,” he said.

Joshua has many accomplishments to be proud of. He placed fourth at club nationals and earned a competitive time of 6:22 in a 2k race, all while practicing with a private coach.

His biggest obstacle is not having a large team that can support each other in high school. The challenge was to motivate himself and keep intensity high. This became less of a problem after he started rowing with the Oak Neck Rowing Academy.

“It’s easy to shut down and go through it, but the past two years I’ve been mentally preparing myself for every race.” -Jason

Jason Louser began swimming at eight.He said that he was encouraged by his parents to start swimming after watching the 2008 Olympics. Also, they didn’t want Jason playing contact sports due to the fact that he has only one kidney.

“They recommended swimming for me  but never really forced me not to play contact sports,”  Jason said.

Jason has pursued swimming throughout high school and will be swimming at the University of California, Berkeley in the fall. He’s training toward the 2020 Olympic trials and his accomplishments show promise toward that goal. Jason has broken two state records, and  he won the  400 IM at nationals last summer.

The biggest obstacles for Jason is balancing school work and improving swimming.

These two athletes are ready to take on any challenge that comes their way as they continue their passion into college.

Republished from Shoreham-Wading River’s print newspaper, The Wildcat Pause (April 2019 Issue).