Harding is the home to many dedicated athletes and another one has just been added to the list.

Stroud is one of the top 42 rowers in the United States. Because of this, he was recruited for the Team USA’s Junior National Team’s high performance camp in Ashton, Ore.

There, he spent a month training with the other rowers that he had never met before.  Water training was emphasized, cutting indoor training to a minimum. During the first two weeks of camp, Stroud and other rowers raced against each other to establish their times and form a rhythm.

“The first two weeks were just getting everyone to flow together and to make the boats move well,” Stroud said. “After that, we got into seat racing and selection for the actual boats.”

Following the camp, Stroud travelled to Bethel, Ohio to put all of the training to work. He had multiple races during the day — some races only had a 30-minute break between them while others were separated by morning and afternoon.

“It was tough,” Stroud said. “It really made me recognize how I need to treat my body well when I’m going through three or four races a day.”

In Oklahoma, Stroud rows with his pair partner Cameron Tubb for OKC Riversport under Coach Peter Brevick.

“He thinks of every variable. Everything. He’s a strong believer in hard work. He’s a really good coach,” Stroud said about Brevick. “He realizes what your personal goal is and what your team’s goals are and reminds you of those goals when needed.”

Brevick congratulated Stroud when he was chosen to be on the Junior National team. He also gave Stroud advice before he left for the training camp.

“[Brevick] said ‘Don’t go in there with an attitude that you’re going to go in there and own the place. You’re going from a fish in a small pond, to a fish in a really big lake,’” Stroud said.

Stroud’s pair partner was also selected as one of the 42 high performance rowers.

“It was an extreme accomplishment for OKC rowers to make it into the Junior National team system,” Tubb said. “It was definitely good to have each other’s support through the camp.”

The two have been rowing together for three years now, but both have been rowing individually for four years each.

“I enjoy working with Mitchell because he always keeps a level head,” Tubb said. “Mitchell is able to look at an issue without getting caught up in the moment and make the right call on how to solve the problem.”

Stroud applied this skill while at camp.

“I was able to bring characteristics that were here at Riversport into their boat. One difference was just being able to jump in the boat, knowing that you don’t really know these people very well but you still know that they want to go fast,” Stroud said.

After attending a camp at Riversport with a friend four summers ago, Stroud fell in love with rowing and has competed ever since.

By being selected for the Junior National team,  Stroud realized his potential to go further with rowing than he expected.

“The end goal definitely is senior national team – like the Olympics. A more present goal is a good college.”