Meghan OLeary

STANFORD — A two-sport graduate from the University of Virginia, in 2010 Meghan O’Leary hung up her softball mitt and volleyball shoes, moved to Connecticut, and worked as a production coordinator at ESPN. The job was everything she dreamed of — but she was restless. The words of the UVA rowing coach reverberated in her mind: “Come on, Meghan. You can be an Olympian in rowing.” She sat down and googled “rowing lessons.” That search would change her life.