DALLAS – Sophia Dooley's journey with SMU rowing started because of a mass email with a link to Google Form.
 
A Flower Mound native, Dooley knew she wanted to attend the Dallas-based school and focus on a degree in business. She never envisioned Division I athletics being part of the equation. 

A former high school golfer and track athlete, Dooley suffered a broken pelvis halfway through her prep career, forcing her to step away from organized competition. She kept working out for personal health but nothing overly strenuous. 

Then came the email. A former graduate assistant with the SMU rowing program sent out a message to a wide group of freshmen, looking for anyone interested in becoming a walk-on.

"It was saying, 'Hey, we're looking for girls with little to no experience in rowing to come out.' And I was like I've got a little to no experience. This sounds perfect," Dooley joked when reflecting on that first interaction. She filled out the Google Form and showed up to the information meeting a few days later. "It was quite the awakening coming into a D1 level sport, one of the most demanding endurance sports, with a pretty lacking base."

Four years later, Dooley is part of an outgoing class that each took unique paths to join the Mustang program. The group is preparing to compete at the ACC Championship in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday and Saturday. The field features stiff competition as seven teams inside the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's top 25 hail from the league. 

All nine of the SMU rowers who will conclude their respective careers at the end of the 2025-26 season have arrived at this moment unconventionally. Five walked on to the program at various points in time while the remaining four are transfers from other institutions. 

Like Dooley, Paige Horton was a former high school athlete who opted not to continue competing in college, coming to SMU solely for academics. A year in, she almost left. 

"Probably the end of my freshman year, I thought about transferring. Then I thought you know what my parents didn't want me to transfer and I was like I'm not a quitter. Let me just throw some darts and see what I can do to kind of change trajectory here," Horton said. She emailed a former SMU grad assistant her experience as a swimmer. Two weeks later, she was told to come to practice. 

Now, she and Dooley serve as team captains for the Mustangs, with Horton planning to return to Dallas in the fall to work as a graduate assistant on coach Chase Graham's staff. 

"Chase really redirected my life in a lot of ways and showed me what it means to be such a compassionate person. Now, I kind of want to follow in his footsteps and do the same thing and coach and give kids the same opportunity that he gave me," Horton said. "There's a reason I stuck with it and now it's becoming apparent in what I want to do with my life in the next year of coaching alongside them."

While this wasn't their intended plan for college, the graduating rowers are grateful for the unexpected experience. As a freshman, Dooley had never rowed competitively. As a sophomore, she got the chance to compete at the Henley Royal Regatta in England back in 2024, an international event featuring some of the biggest programs from around the globe. The four-year veterans have helped the team transition into ACC competition over the last several years. They've welcomed a new coaching staff, recruiting classes and transfers to Dallas as SMU works on returning to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2024. 

There's been a lot of learning and growing, both in and out of the boat. And while their roads to the finish line at SMU are rapidly approaching, it's an unplanned journey they have certain savored. 
"The best part is not about the rowing, it's about the girls. That's been the best part of all of this," Dooley said. "It's all these people that I never would've come across in my life and made friends with. This has been such a good opportunity to meet them. I love these girls with my whole heart. As much as they drive me crazy sometimes, I wouldn't change this for the world."