Fil-Am rower makes waves in Ivy League

NEW JERSEY – Fil-Am lightweight rower Philip Henson finished his four-year varsity career at Dartmouth on a high note as the two-time MVP powered the Big Green eights to third place with a time of 5:41.860 over a 2,000 meter distance in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships behind Yale and Harvard on the Cooper River in Camden here recently.

To cap his final year of NCAA eligibility, Henson received the prestigious Louis Breer Cup for leadership and sportsmanship as Dartmouth skipper in the lightweight class during graduation rites at the New Hampshire campus last week. He was also named to the All-Ivy League rowing second team. Henson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biomedical engineering and will be back in class this schoolyear for a science degree in the same course.

Henson, 22, took the Timothy Ryerson Award as the most outstanding freshman lightweight oarsman at Dartmouth in 2008 and the next year, was given the Class of 1990 award for leadership on and off the water by upperclassmen.

For three years, Henson rowed in the eight-seat as stroke on Dartmouth’s lightweight (160 pounds and under) squad. This past season, he moved to No. 6 and led the varsity to second place behind Harvard in the Eastern Sprints with a time of 5:46.84. In the Nationals, Dartmouth clocked 5:53.044 to finish second in the first heat then wound up third in the finals, edging No. 4 Cornell by five seconds.

Although he has never rowed pairs, Henson will team up with Dartmouth incoming senior Phil Grisdela in a bid to represent the US at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Amsterdam this July. The US tryouts will be held at Mercer Lake here late this month. Henson was also invited by US national team coach Dan Roock to attend the trials for eights in Hanover with the goal to qualify for the Olympics.

While Henson is gearing to wear the US colors, he’s not ruling out the possibility of someday rowing for the Philippines.

“That would be a wonderful option,” said Henson whose Filipino father Ramon was an outstanding student at La Salle Manila. “Right now, I’m committed to finish my studies for a second degree at Dartmouth so I expect to be competing close to campus this coming schoolyear. I’ll also try to get a job or an internship. I love rowing. It will always be integrated into my life.”

Henson and Grisdela are now in Boston training with the Riverside Rowing Club for the US Under-23 qualifiers. 

“It’ll be a major adjustment from rowing eights to pairs,” said Henson. “In pairs, we use a sweep stroke using one oar per man. It’s not like the doubles in Olympic rowing where each man uses two oars. It takes a lot of precision and coordination to do a good job in pairs. At the World Championships, European countries like Germany, Italy, France and Denmark usually dominate the lightweight competitions.”

Another adjustment is in the World Under-23 Championships, rowers are weighed two hours before the race unlike in the NCAA where they are scaled the previous day.

Henson inherited his athletic genes from both his parents. His grandfather Gregorio Henson was a star basketball player with Letran and Jose Rizal College in the pre-World War II era. His great-grandfather Louis Dour on his mother Sandy Marshall’s side was a tennis whiz from Brooklyn.

Henson was introduced to rowing in high school and is passionate in his love for the sport. But he also plays basketball and squash aside from skiing, biking and running. Henson has other non-athletic talents – he once played the piano at a recital in Carnegie Hall and as an intern with Symbex, was involved in developing sensors in football helmets to monitor the banging a player sustains in the brain during a game. Henson was a recipient of the Howard Hughes scholarship for biomedical research. 

Henson said the discipline he has learned from rowing will go a long way in preparing him for the future.

“Throughout the season, we try to maintain a body fat composition of five to six percent,” said Henson. “We train twice a day - in the morning, practicing strokes and technique and in the afternoon, doing intense rowing. We do fitness exercises, too. Our season begins in March and ends in June but we begin training from September. In the spring, we train in Oakridge, Tennessee and in the winter, in Austin, Texas, because it gets too cold in the Connecticut River.”

Henson said the Dartmouth’s team average ERG (stroke per minute) rating of 6.25 was higher than some other Ivy League crews but somehow, the Big Green was able to make waves because of the rowers’ technique, skills, toughness and chemistry.

“Rowing is an endurance sport,” said the 6-2 Henson. “I can see myself rowing competitively for many more years. Rowers usually peak in their late 20s or early 30s. After graduation, I plan to live in Boston where there is an active rowing community.”

Henson has visited Manila twice and plans to apply for dual citizenship to qualify as a Fil-Am. His sister Emma already has her Filipino ID from the Bureau of Immigration. “Phil loves Filipino food, especially pansit and adobo,” said his mother Sandy. “He’s very close to his Filipino relatives.”