Am I too short for crew:

Question
Ok, well to start off I am five foot five inches or five six depending on who's measuring. I am quite strong and this is my first year rowing. The team I row for is college level and this year is a mixed bag of a few novices and some experienced freshmen.

We did our first 2K in February and I pulled a 7:20, my second 2k was about 3 weeks later and I pulled 6:59. I had been having trouble with timing for a while, most likely because of my height, but have recently fixed that and now it is more the finer aspects of rowing (relaxing and keeping consistent hand heights to set the boat#. Am i too short to row? I enjoy the sport but I hate wasting my time if I'm not going to amount to anything. I know I'm probably condemned to bow seat but I'd be ok with that as long as it meant I got the opportunity to make the boat move faster. Thank you for your time, look forward to your response!!!

#additional detail: I weigh 158.5 lbs and am 9% body fat, thought I'd include that seeing as I just had it tested)

Answer
Hi Will: Your time is a bit better than the average time for lightweights your age (7:05).  So you have potential.

While tall is preferred to short in rowing, if you are content to row bow, you can row for 95% of the competitive crews out there.  If you decide to move into smaller boats and/or sculling, particularly single sculls, than the height factor is less of an advantage.

I'd say give the sport a year and see if you really like it.

Good Luck/AP