Yale Athletics

The first time Mia Levy ’25 sat in a boat, they were in the seventh grade.

At over six feet tall and a long-standing athletics enthusiast — having engaged in every “kiddie sports league” with their sister as they grew up — they were persuaded by their father to try out sports for which their height could prove an advantage.

“I tried basketball, but [realized] I had no hand-eye coordination,” Levy told the News. “[My dad then] encouraged me to try row camp, because he knew the sport, and it was one where my height would be helpful. It was the right sport for my body type at the time.”

Levy’s father was well-versed in the world of crew, having rowed for the men’s lightweight crew team at Yale from 1985 to 1989. His suggestion that his daughter try their hand at his former collegiate sport would spark a life-long passion for them — one that would eventually culminate in them being named the Yale Women’s Crew captain for the 2024-25 season.

Following their foray into the sport in middle school, Levy joined their hometown infantile rowing program in Des Moines, Iowa. As their interest in the sport burgeoned, so did their need to access greater resources. They applied to boarding schools on the East Coast where crew received significant attention, and were soon accepted to Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. for high school.

“My freshmen year was a totally different experience. I had a larger team, with more people to push me and role models to look up to,” Levy said. “I had an amazing coach named Ellen Mizner. She coached for our high school on the side, and saw that I was passionate about [rowing] and invested time and energy in me. That was really transformative.”

Ellen Mizner was the Paralympic national team coach from 2013 to 2018, and was named USRowing’s Paralympic Coach of the Year in 2023.

By the end of their sophomore year of high school, Levy had been invited to the junior national team selection camp. Forty high school-aged rowers across the nation attend, with 20 selected to race at the U19 World Rowing Junior Championships. Levy soon joined the USA team, finishing fourth in the women’s eight race. 

Through the summer and their junior year, they continued to accrue several achievements, winning the junior category at the 2019 CRASH-B and 2020 USRowing Indoor National Championships, and intermediate eight and elite at the 2019 USRowing Summer National Championships. 

Levy intended to return to the national junior selection camp the summer after their junior year, but the pandemic stalled those plans.

“It was really difficult,” Levy explained. “When COVID hit, everyone went home [from boarding school]. I wasn’t in the same city as any of my friends. The U19 Championships [and] my high school season got cancelled. It was hard to motivate [myself].”

Despite the pause in their trajectory through the sport, Levy was able to continue rowing back home, following the remote training plan designed by Mizner and the Phillips Academy coaching staff. 

The gradual resumption of in-person schooling in their senior year brought Levy back to the water with their team. Quickly elected their captain, they became responsible for leading a new group of fellow oarswomen, as several seniors departed during the pandemic period. 

“I had to build the team from the ground up. But I loved it and I felt strongly about the power of a team sport. COVID was challenging, with having to pause and basically self-motivate, but I came out the other side,” Levy said.

Encouraged by their coach, Levy began to look to the collegiate level for the next phase of their rowing career. Yale’s positive women’s crew team culture — and English program — proved especially enticing, leading Levy to commit. After a summer rowing for the junior national team, they stepped onto Yale’s campus in the fall of 2021.

Despite the learning curve of adjusting to an increasingly strenuous training schedule amid the universal “monster” of the freshmen fall transition to college, Levy made the second varsity boat for the team. Their freshman year was thereon riddled with accolades: Levy brought home gold in the second varsity eight at the 2022 Ivy League Championship, NCAA Championship and women’s 8+ for the USA team at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships.

“The upperclassman leadership my freshmen year was particularly significant,” Levy shared, reflecting on their success at Yale. “There were a lot of amazing mentors in that boat, juniors and seniors who saw that I was still figuring stuff out, struggling a little bit to get my feet under me, and they really just led by example and made sure I felt part of the team. They helped me find my place at Yale and on the team, and figure out how I wanted to be as a person, a friend and a teammate.”

Their excellence continued. Levy was named the USRowing Under-23 Female Athlete of the Year and won a gold medal for the USA at the women’s eight World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Bulgaria during their sophomore year. As a junior, they were named a CRCA Scholar Athlete and were a finalist for the CRCA athlete of the year. 

“From an athletic perspective, Mia is a generational talent,” Women’s Crew Head Coach Will Porter wrote to the News. “[They] hold all [of] our all-time team records on the rowing machine (beating several Olympians). [They are] a U23 World Champion for the USA, an NCAA Champion for Yale in the 2V, an All-Ivy League athlete, and of course our captain.”

Levy was elected captain by their peers before their senior year. Describing their captaincy, Porter pointed to Levy’s communication skills as a reason for their success, naming them the “best female athlete at Yale.” 

Levy’s teammates echoed Porter’s praise.

“Mia is one of the most accomplished athletes in YWC history, but [they] probably wouldn’t tell you that [themselves],” Claire Cummings ’26 wrote to the News. “Mia notices things acutely — the teammate whose head is hanging, the trash that needs picking up, or the lapse in team communication that could be improved — and addresses these things with patience and kindness. Simply put, Mia leads with intentionality and awareness.”

As captain, Levy organizes optional training sessions to supplement the hours the NCAA prescribes for the team. They aim to cultivate a healthy team culture, spending time and goal-setting with their fellow oarswomen to produce a collaborative, uplifting, and winner’s environment. 

As Levy approaches the end of their Yale undergraduate experience, they look forward to attending the national senior team selection camp — similar to the national junior team camp they once frequently attended — this summer. They hope to row for the USA national team after college.

“I’m really excited [for the future], but for right now, I’m really excited about YWC, and the goals we have for this season,” Levy shared.

Beyond the boat, Levy is an English major and sits on the Leadership Board of Yale Athlete Ally, an LGBTQ affinity group for Yale student athletes that promotes visibility, inclusion and community in sport. They tutor at the Poorvu Center and have worked with the Yale Prison Education Initiative and New Haven Public Schools.

“Mia has led with compassion, ambition, and a belief in the team that we are so lucky to have. I can’t wait to see all [they do] as a U.S. senior team rower, as a teacher one day, and I know YWC is better because of [them]!” fellow oarswoman Olivia Schnur ’25 wrote to the News.

The women’s crew season will culminate in the Ivy League and NCAA Championships in May and June.