Two competitive rowers are speaking out about how the college bribery scandal took away spots on teams that athletes like them had dedicated thousands of hours of training - along with blood, sweat, and tears - for a chance to get.
Now Surya Murthy and Ally Stein are wondering how schools managed to overlook fake club names and obvious errors while recruiting the children of wealthy and famous parents.
Murthy, 18, and Stein, 19, were members of the Redwood Scullers, an elite rowing club in California's Bay Area.
It was the same team that Audrey Isackson claimed to be a member of when she applied for early admission to USC in 2017.
Former competitive rowers Ally Stein (left) and Surya Murthy (right) are speaking out about how the college bribery scandal took away spots on teams that athletes like them had dedicated thousands of hours of training for a chance to get
Both women questioned how USC athletic officials managed to overlook fake club names and obvious errors to give spots on the rowing team to Lori Loughlin's daughters
Neither Murphy or Stein, who were both members of the team in 2017, had ever met Audrey.
And they noted that Audrey's recruitment profile had a major error that they're shocked wasn't flagged up by anyone in USC's athletic department.
Audrey claimed to be a 'varsity 8 stroke' for the team, touting she had various 'crew honors'.
But the Redwood Scullers don't even have a varsity 8 boat, a fact that is made apparent in the club's name.
A varsity 8 boat is used in sweep rowing, where each rower only has one oar. But the Redwood Scullers compete in sculling, where each rower has two smaller oars.
'That was a straight-up lie, they weren't even trying,' Murthy told the New York Daily News. 'I thought that was almost hilarious. We never had a varsity 8. There's no background checking for that?'
Bruce Isackson, 61, and his wife Davina, 55, allegedly paid more than $600,000 in bribes to get Audrey into USC and her sister Lauren into UCLA with fake athletic credentials.
Murthy and Stein were members of the Redwood Scullers, an elite rowing club in California's Bay Area. It was the same team that Audrey Isackson (pictured right with her mother and sister) claimed to be a member of when she applied for early admission to USC in 2017
Bruce Isackson, 61, and his wife Davina, 55, (pictured with their family) allegedly paid more than $600,000 in bribes to get Audrey into USC and her sister Lauren into UCLA with fake athletic credentials
The indictment claims they paid more than $350,000 to help Audrey get into USC, bribing athletic officials and even hiring a proctor to secretly change her ACT answers so that the teen would get a higher score on the college entrance exam.
They also allegedly transferred $250,000 worth of Facebook shares to get Lauren a spot on UCLA's elite soccer team. She made no appearances and played zero minutes during the season.
The scandal has been crushing to Murthy and Stein, who rowed for years to try and get coveted spots on collegiate teams in a recruiting process that left them completely disillusioned.
They allegedly transferred $250,000 worth of Facebook shares to get Lauren a spot on UCLA's elite soccer team
'I had been trying to get recruited for a very long time,' said Murthy, who now attends the University of Washington. 'I had been training summer after summer. I went to nationals. I put a lot of work in.'
'When spots are being taken like that on teams, it's really disappointing.'
Murthy would wake up daily at 4.15am to row two hours before school. She dreamed of getting into Stanford or Boston.
'I literally gave it my everything,' she said. 'My notebooks were filled with possible boat lineups. I had spreadsheets and flow charts. I was on phone calls with coaches every weekend.'
'I spent years emailing coaches. Now I'm realizing a lot of the spots I was trying to get were taken by someone who paid their way in,' she added. 'I'm not rowing anymore. I just felt the field became too competitive for me.'
Stein gave up competitive rowing to enroll at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
'I was such a competitive athlete,' she said. 'I was interested in USC, but they stopped talking to me in the first few rounds.'
'I feel robbed, but mostly for my friends who stopped getting recruited to USC in the final rounds.'
The scandal has been crushing to Murthy and Stein, who rowed for years to try and get coveted spots on collegiate teams and were disillusioned by the process
Both girls were also astounded when they learned Lori Loughlin's daughters were also admitted into USC as fake crew recruits.
Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli allegedly paid $500,000 to get their daughters Olivia Jade, 19, and Isabella, 20, into the school, even having the girls pose on rowing machines for their recruitment profiles.
Olivia's profile claimed she was a coxswain for the LA Marina Club team, which does not appear to exist.
Murthy said it was 'pretty shocking' that the admissions department also didn't question how Olivia Jade's m made no mention of her so-called dedication to the sport on her popular YouTube channel.
'It's pretty irresponsible they let someone like Olivia Jade slip by like that,' she said. 'She's so popular. It's remarkable no one noticed.'
'I know girls who spent their whole high school careers working toward this. It's really heartbreaking to hear about these spots being taken.'
Davina was released on $1million bond last week. She was told not to discuss the case with her husband, who has also been implicated
'It made me wonder how many spots I could have gotten if people weren't paying their way in like this.'
Isackson and his wife were among more than 50 parents and coaches who were charged in what has become the largest college admissions fraud scam in US history.
Davina appeared at Moakley Federal Courthouse last week and was told she could not discuss the case with her husband unless an attorney was present. She was released on $1million bond and ordered to surrender her passport.
Judge Jennifer Boal warned her there is to be 'no discussion of the substance of the case with family members outside of counsel'.
Both Davina and Isackson are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Bruce is due to appear in court in Boston next week.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/25/former-competitive-rowers-speak-out-about-college-bribery-scandal/
Main photo article Two competitive rowers are speaking out about how the college bribery scandal took away spots on teams that athletes like them had dedicated thousands of hours of training – along with blood, sweat, and tears – for a chance to get.
Now Surya Murthy and Ally Stein are wondering how ...
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Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/24/20/11401628-6845145-image-a-5_1553461109301.jpg
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