Oregon State Q&A: Jake Edelstein

Jake Edelstein enters his second year with Oregon State Men's Rowing in 2024-25.

As a freshman, he participated in every race for the Beavers' this spring. Edelstein raced once with the 2nd Varsity 8 before joining the Varsity for the remainder of the season. He helped the boat place 20th in the nation at the IRA National Championships

Edelstein participated in a Q&A with OSUBeavers.com about his path to Corvallis and the men's rowing program.

What's one thing you wish more people knew about your sport and what it takes to be competitive?
A lot of people don't realize how intense our practices are and the volume we do. We do basically a part time job with our sport, with a lot of weeks in the winter with close to 20 hours of total volume per week. While a lot of practices are similar to long runs in the sense you're at about 75-85% of your max heart rate, we do push that a few times a week. The times when you are close to or are at your maximum heart rate is when you really improve as a rower and an athlete, going all in and fighting through the pain to endure more pain than whoever is lined up against you.

If you could change one rule about your sport, what would it be and why?
I wish rowing had more events, similar to track and field. We have 2000m races in the spring and ~ 5000m races in the fall, it would be nice to have some more 500m or 1000m events in the summer or other times throughout the year.

What does it mean to you to wear the Orange and Black?
It means a lot to me to represent Oregon State Rowing. Walking into the boat house every day and seeing the record board and the list of national team rowers and Olympians really makes me proud and honored to represent this team and this school.

If you could pick any other sport to play, what would it be and why?
If I could pick any other sport to play it would be basketball for sure. I grew up playing basketball and was pretty solid but rowing just took over in high school. I've got good size but I think i've got solid floor vision too so I see myself as a prime Ben Simmons kinda player.

What drives you to succeed?
I'm driven to succeed every day by my teammates. This team embraced me when as a freshman and treated me as a lifelong friend. Because this is such a team sport having nine people in a boat all working together, I just want to do right by them, and when I know my teammates are working hard it makes it that much easier to push myself in order to get faster and win more.

Name your top three things to do in Oregon when you're not competig or studying.
While I'm in Oregon I love to explore everything there is to do outdoors. Some of my favorites are off-roading with my friends up in the mountains. Hiking is also a classic, there's so many great hikes to waterfalls or great views all over Oregon and it's so great that Corvallis is in the middle of it all. I also love to golf with my friends, even though we're not the best, it's a beautiful time outdoors and you create great memories.

How about ice cream. What do you have to put on it?
I am an ice cream super fan. It is a healthy/unhealthy addiction, I love super creamy ice cream, I think Tillamook and Ben and Jerry's are the golden standard of ice cream. Hard to pick a favorite but if I had to it would be chocolate peanut butter. If I had a plain vanilla sundae with any toppings though, I'd have to go with warm chocolate and caramel sauce with some toffee bits and a cherry on top.

Your preferred pre-competition meal?
My favorite quick and easy meal before a test piece or a race is peanut butter on toast, gotta be chunky peanut butter too. With some fresh fruit on the side, and obviously plenty of water.

What's in your pre-event playlist?
My pre-game playlist mostly consists of your average hype rap songs to get the blood flowing. I've gotta have Chief Keef, King Von, Ken Carson, and of course you gotta listen to Swag Surfin' if your on the bus going to a regatta.

Players Mentioned

Jake Edelstein

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