Competitive Hudgins Brothers Enjoy Success… Together

The first time brothers Jacob and Miles Hudgins rowed together was as members of the Dartmouth men's heavyweight rowing team.

It was a moment to remember.

"The Head of the Charles in the fall of 2021 was the craziest 16 minutes of my life," said Miles, who is currently a sophomore while Jacob is a senior. "We were at the start line, so pumped, and then we had this run-in with one of the Harvard boats where we clashed oars and both boats slowed down a little bit. Jacob and I were both putting it all out there.

"After we finished, we found out that we got second."

The margin on first was just a matter of seconds.

"I immediately thought I should have gone harder, I could have done this, I could have done that," said Miles. "We pulled up to the dock; we were pretty excited, but I was also disappointed. We brought the boat back to the trailer, and Jacob and I had 19 family members in attendance, who were all there to watch us row together.

"It was the most amazing feeling in the world and everything — the disappointment and second-guessing — just went away."

That moment brought pure joy.

"I gave everyone a hug and I was so emotionally happy in that moment that I could experience it with Jacob," said Miles. "That was my best-ever experience in rowing."

Jacob couldn't agree more.
Jacob and Miles Hudgins

"That medal probably means the most to me out of any medal I've gotten," he said. "It's this feeling of having some success the year prior, but during a COVID year, then we came back and showed everyone where we stood. And to have my brother in that boat as well for the first time we ever raced together, it was a magical experience."

Since that point, the Hudgins brothers have enjoyed a number of memorable experiences, which includes rowing together at the World Rowing Under 23 Championship last summer.

"Miles and I were pair partners in that eight — in the five and six seats — which can be considered the powerhouse of the boat," said Jacob. "It's pretty fun; we're putting down the watts together."

The backstory of Jacob and Miles in rowing are similar in some ways, but also quite different in others. Growing up in Andover, Massachusetts, Jacob rowed for his high school (Phillips Academy) while Miles rowed for his club (Greater Lawrence Academy), which is why they hadn't rowed together prior to Dartmouth.

"I was a swimmer before I rowed, so I was very prone to cardio-based sports," said Jacob. "It was essentially a secondary sport I did in the spring at my school, because one of my friends said it was a really great way to stay in shape for swimming."

During his junior year of high school, Jacob pivoted his focus.

"I had a season I wasn't super happy with in swimming, so I went into the rowing season a little angry, took it out on rowing and found something I never thought I would have found," he said. "That was a huge initial shock to me, super surprising that I would ever decide to row in college considering I had swum for so long."

Two years younger, Miles' path was similar.

"I played soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter, but never really thought of myself as super athletic," he said. "I needed a spring sport because I wanted something to do in the afternoons. It was between ultimate frisbee, volleyball and rowing. I was pretty torn about what I was going to do, but then I was just thinking about Jacob. I had watched a bunch of his races and thought it would be so cool to give rowing a shot."

As they say, the rest is history.

Miles went on to row at Greater Lawrence Rowing and not his high school.

"It was great way to meet new people," he said. "I feel like I had a different experience there. A lot of sports I had played previously were super high pressure, but rowing was strangely lower pressure because there was such a direct correlation between hard work and results."

For some of the differences between the Hudgins brothers, hard work is definitely a similarity.

Jacob was the first to be recruited to row in college and was drawn to Dartmouth for a variety of reasons, first being Wyatt Allen, the Betsy and Mark Gates 1959 Head Coach of Men's Heavyweight Rowing.

"I not only enjoyed his presence, his kindness and his desire for me to succeed overall, but I also trusted Wyatt," said Jacob. "The things he was telling me about the program, and the direction it was headed, was something I could get behind. And I trusted that he could develop me from someone who was good at rowing to someone who could be really great at it."

That has certainly happened.
Jacob and Miles Hudgins

Jacob appreciated the focus on development and helping student-athletes grow.

"A lot of other schools focus on taking people who might have a lot more experience in rowing," he said. "But I came from a school where I only did it in the spring. Wyatt, being a walk-on at UVA and having never rowed before college, understands what it's like to start rowing a bit later and still be successful in the sport (he's an Olympic gold medalist)."

Jacob will never forget his visit to Dartmouth, which in many ways, also planted the seed for Miles.

"I was a junior in high school and Miles was a freshman," he said. "I came up with my grandmother, mom and brother. Miles was probably 6-foot-5, but 180 pounds. He was a twig. This is no offense to Miles; he knows that.

"He was tall, but wasn't an endurance athlete," Jacob continued.

That would change.

Flash forward to Miles' recruiting process, which was primarily over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Even with that barrier, conversations with Wyatt were different than with other schools I was looking at," said Miles. "The things he was saying just made me feel like I unequivocally trusted that he was the guy who was going to bring this program to the top.

"Prior to the pandemic, I visited campus and saw my brother's routine, who he was hanging out with, the types of people he was spending time with, how he handled his classes, what they did at practice and how everybody interacted with each other," Miles continued.

It became clear to Miles that he belonged at Dartmouth.

Unfortunately, not long after the visit was when COVID-19 hit so Jacob, then a college freshman, returned home. A silver lining for the Hudgins brothers was being able to reconnect and train with each other.

"At the time, I had never really trained at a high level," said Miles. "To have Jacob come home and show me the ropes of what it meant to be an elite athlete was very, very crucial in my success. I had hit this stagnation in my fitness, and then Jacob and I consistently trained together."

You can guess what happened next. Miles began PRing on a consistent basis.

"Jacob definitely showed what kind of effort, engagement and commitment it took to reach the next level," said Miles. "Around the time I was starting to decide where I wanted to go to school was around the same time that Jacob came back from school for COVID. I felt like it was a bit of a reconnection point when I was really getting to know him more.

"I started to find compelling reasons to come to school with him."

Competitiveness was a trait that was evident in the Hudgins' relationship from a young age. Ever since the Hudgins have been teammates with the Big Green, that has only increased.
Jacob and Miles Hudgins

"Being the older brother, I would always try to beat Miles up and stuff his face in the snow… and Miles would always try to beat me in any sport, but never beat me," said Jacob. "I think that that bred competitiveness in Miles. There's always an older brother/younger brother dynamic. It's a healthy back-and-forth."

Some things have changed since their younger days.

"Miles is faster than me on the erg now (which is the rowing machine) and I don't think I will ever be faster than Miles on the erg," said Jacob. "The roles have reversed a little bit.

"We have a very high-pressure relationship because we truly are moving towards a very difficult goal, and we're both very goal-oriented," Jacob continued. "Our relationship revolves around rowing a lot of the time."

The sport of rowing relies on trust. Who better to trust than a brother?

"There's no one I trust more than Miles in the boat," said Jacob. "It's a powerful thing to be able to rely on someone in the boat so heavily, and that person is your blood brother. It's something not a lot of people get to experience at such a high level."
Jacob and Miles Hudgins

That trust has been on display at Dartmouth, and beyond, as members of the United States Under-23 team. They were pair partners at World Championships last summer, earning a silver medal with the Men's Eight.

"It's cool to travel as a unit and be the Hudgins bros," said Miles. "I love international racing. Jacob and I were both on the junior team as well."

The Hudgins couldn't be prouder to represent Dartmouth College. Last season, the Big Green finished fifth in the nation and look to continue taking the program to new heights.

"One thing we do really well here at Dartmouth is enjoying the process and finding ways to enjoy practice," said Miles. "If you play a sport like baseball, you play dozens of games in a season. If you row, you may have six regattas. Every single person on our roster absolutely loves the sport and is so committed to being a rower.

"If you ask them what they do on campus, they say they're a rower."

Rowing, and especially the competitiveness that the sport demands, is in the blood of Jacob and Miles Hudgins.

"Rowing is a sport where you can see pain so clearly," said Jacob. "Pain is the barrier between you and success. If you can say in your mind that pain doesn't matter, then you're going to be successful in the sport if you do it consistently every day.

"It's such a beautiful process to be able to move past pain and see it as simply another thing in your way."

The Hudgins have overcome obstacles and fought through pain with each other by their sides.