Last year, Wisconsin oarsman Mike Tupek was something of an anomaly.

As the only member of his class placed in the top shell as a sophomore, Tupek found himself among a group of experienced rowers vying for a place among the national elite. As the youngest member of the varsity eights, he experienced the high of Wisconsin’s shocking upset of West Coast powerhouse Washington and the low of a disappointing finish at the Intercollegiate Rowing Regatta.

Now, after the departure of multiple seniors — including the last remnants of Wisconsin’s third-ranked boat of 2003 — Tupek has suddenly become the cagey veteran.

Yet Wisconsin head coach Chris Clark still expects improvement from his standout junior rower. After mustering an impressive debut season in the freshman eights, Tupek suffered somewhat of an off year during his sophomore campaign.

“[Tupek] has got to get better,” Clark said. “He came in here with this amazing fire, and last year, I don’t know what it was. He had sort of a strange slump. This year, he is doing better.”

As one of the naturally strongest rowers on the team, and also one of the more seasoned, Tupek is being asked to take on more of a leadership role this season. This year’s rowing team is young, with only one senior rower in the first boat. Clark likes Tupek’s aggressive style of rowing and wants other rowers to pick up on that.

“Today [in practice], I moved him to stroke, which is like the quarterback because he is super aggressive,” Clark said. “That’s something we often do, is put the most aggressive guy there. He shows other guys that, ‘Oh, this is how it’s supposed to be done.'”

Tupek has been in the first boat since his freshman year. Clark is hoping that Tupek’s experience will bear out in the team’s performance not only during practice, but also in the heat of the spring events.

“Under the pressure of a big race and the intensity of your competition, you’ll do what is equivalent to a turnover,” Clark said. “Not only do you not win, but you don’t even row your race. Hopefully a guy like [Tupek] can help turn that around. It’s not like you expect him to sit down with everybody and tell tales around the campfire about ‘back when I was a kid,’ but you lead by example.”

Tupek’s goals are equivalent to Clark’s. As an individual, his ergometer times and personal achievements are important to him. Yet, ultimately, Tupek wants continuous progress until the Badgers are able to reach the highest level of competition.

“Personal expectations are just to improve over past years, both physically and technique-wise,” Tupek said. “As a team, I think the goal is pretty much the same: we want to keep improving each year. If we build a little bit each year, we’ll be back in the running for medals and national championships.”

Despite strong recruiting from competing schools, the Bethesda, Md., native eventually chose Wisconsin due to the program’s recent success under Clark and the general appeal of the atmosphere at Madison.

“After my recruiting visit, it was pretty unanimous,” Tupek said. “Almost everyone on that same recruiting visit decided this is the place [he wanted] to go. I chose here mostly because, at the time, we were one of the top rowing teams in the country. That was definitely an important part of the decision. Frankly, when I came to visit here, Wisconsin just had a much better atmosphere, in my opinion, and was much more fun.”

Academics also played a key role in Tupek’s choice of colleges.

“In high school I was strongest at math, so I was interested in engineering,” Tupek said. “The engineering program was strong here, so engineering and rowing basically made my decision to come here.”

According to Tupek, he has made the dean’s list four out of his five semesters in Madison. The struggle of balancing his commitment to rowing and his studies has not been difficult for him. Rather, rowing has helped Tupek give his life more structure.

“In a way, rowing helps you schedule your homework,” Tupek said. “When you’re not rowing, it’s easy to find distractions and, when you’re rowing, you stay focused on one task. You’re able to focus more on both athletics and academics at the same time.”