- June 11, 2026
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Olivia Mulliner agreed to tag along with her older sister, Isabella Mulliner, for one practice with Sarasota Crew. Their mother proposed the idea — it could be fun, she said.
That it was, and then some. Olivia Mulliner let her competitive nature take over. She wanted to be faster than her sister, who was more seasoned on the water.
“It’s funny. She kind of took the sport as a joke,” Mulliner said. “But I'm very competitive, so the first day I got here, I was already beating all of her times.”
That was five years ago. Their paths have since diverged.
Isabella Mulliner, who’s now a rising sophomore at Florida State University, left rowing behind. Her younger sister has stayed competitive with an oar in her hands.
From June 11-14, Olivia Mulliner will compete in the Youth Women’s Eight of the USRowing Youth National Championships, held at Nathan Benderson Park. She’s a rising senior at Riverview High, now wrapping up the penultimate season of her high school rowing career.
Her boat is one of 16 entries for Sarasota Crew, which is tied for second-most among the 236 different clubs set to converge on the park. Maritime Rowing Club of Connecticut also boasts 16, while RowAmerica Rye of New York leads with 21 entries.
“We’ve definitely gained a lot of speed as a boat,” Mulliner said. “Last year, we had a little bit of an off year. We did not take our varsity eight… This year, going back into the big premier event and putting our name back on the map has been super exciting.”
Their boat also features Lakewood Ranch graduate Madison McKay, Pine View graduate Gabi DeLeo, homeschooled graduate Eliana Fanders, Sarasota graduate Sydney Dalton, Venice graduate Anna Raney, Pine View rising junior Sydney Soboleski, Pine View graduate Sofia Yu and Pine View rising senior coxswain Kaylie Dominguez.
At the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships from May 9-10, they placed fourth with a 6:44.41 finish, and were just over nine seconds behind the winning boat from Winter Park Crew. Mulliner sat in the third seat for that race.
But the lineup has changed. She was moved to the first seat — bow position — at the back of the boat, and will play that role at the national championships.
“A lot of the cleanliness, a lot of the support starts all the way back with her,” said Sebastian Spivey, the lead girls coach for Sarasota Crew. “She's the one who sees everyone in her peripheral. She feels the least amount of resistance, but she's the one that has to stay the most locked in.”
Spivey also pointed to consistency as essential in Mulliner’s position. If she makes a mistake, it can have a ripple effect on everyone sitting in front of her. Every stroke needs to be in sync.
Their Youth Women’s Eight is humble in stature. They don’t fit what some people view as the physical archetype for success in the sport, but they’re here nonetheless.
Mulliner, who stands at 5-foot-8, is one of the tallest girls in the boat.
“In rowing, it's kind of told that you want to be super big and strong and muscular, but we have absolutely one of the smallest crews in the area,” Mulliner said. “So we say the power of friendship gets us across the line.”
When she was first introduced to rowing five years ago, she loved the competitiveness of it, but quickly learned it would test her limits. The schedule was rigorous then, and still is now.
Sarasota Crew practices for an average of 20 hours per week during the season with regattas on select weekends. It encourages rowers to set their own goals and vows to provide individualized development so they can achieve them.
Mulliner, being her competitive self, wanted to be a winner on the water. She wanted to continue improving her times while holding herself to ambitious goals.
“It’s 20 hours of good, hard work and you absolutely get put around people that want to work hard, want to go fast,” Mulliner said. “A new breed of people are here, and you kind of adapt into a new person.”
She’s proud to have served as girls sophomore captain in 2024-25, and to be wrapping up her stint as girls junior captain for 2025-26.
She’s proud to still be with Sarasota Crew after five years. In that time, she’s grown up alongside other rowers with goals comparable to her own.
And ultimately, she’s proud to be in a sport where chemistry is so integral to success.
“I'm able to row with my friends, and my friends that I've chosen are the girls that work the hardest and have put themselves in the best positions,” Mulliner said. “Being able to cross the finish line with the people that I love most, and being able to gain those great friendships has absolutely been the biggest prize.”
Rowing started as a family rivalry of sorts for Mulliner. She saw an opportunity to beat her older sister at her own game.
Something greater is on the line now: a junior national title.
