A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team

Cooper explains that the winter season for rowers is all about conditioning and working out, and Coach Jessica has been guiding the whole program alone since the fall. However, Alpart has hired a new coach by the name of Marc Mandel, who tells the team that he was a rower at Northwestern and he is there to bring up their erg scores, SAT scores, and GPAs and to help them get into a college or university if they want to continue rowing. Mandel also tells them that they will be going to Philadelphia again during spring break and that there is a 2,000-meter indoor racing championship in a few weeks they will be attending. Cooper is selected as Manley’s competitor for the indoor competition, where he hits 7 minutes and 15 seconds on the erg machine for first place. Afterward, Mandel tells him that he is good enough to be entered into the national indoor championships. 

While his athletic career is taking off, Cooper’s romance with Grace seems to be falling apart, as she lets him know that she wants to remain only friends. Additionally, both