This Central High School rower overcame doubt about size to excel at University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia produces a certain blue-collar grit in its high school athletes that they take to college and beyond. That's the case with one Central High School rower who took her talents to the University of Pennsylvania but had to overcome doubt about her size.

Cypress Kaulbach's love of rowing was passed down from her mother.

"She was a coxswain, which are the people that sit in the boat and they don't get the opportunity to row," Kaulbach said. "I'm a little bit taller than her, so she was like, 'You're the perfect size, you can row.'"

With the encouragement, she first got onto the water at 17 for the Philadelphia City Rowing Club and even made nationals her senior year.

"I was going to my senior prom and we got word that we were able to go when I was getting ready," Kaulbach said. "I couldn't cry because I didn't want to mess up my makeup, but I was just so happy."

It was at nationals where she learned her most valuable lesson.

"How to have fun while you're competing at such a high level," she said.

That lesson would be tested in her freshman year in college. She walked on to UPenn's women's rowing team with her size being a question.

"She is a smaller athlete," Bill Manning, head coach of the women's rowing team, said. "She's not somebody that you'd sort of picked if you were assembling an ideal crew based on their looks. But things that are important in our sport are things that you can't see. You certainly can't tell what someone's guts, determination and tenacity is, and she has that in spades."

Kaulbach's mom told her the opposite, that she was the perfect size.

"I was like, 'Oh no, my mom was wrong,'" Kaulbach said. "I am not the perfect size to be here. They didn't think I ever would ever be able to compete with them, and I think that really fueled me. Rowing has given me a platform to be competitive and really challenge how people think about me."

By her junior year, Kaulbach was able to compete in NCAA races and even helped the team place 16th nationally in the NCAA championships.

"Cypress is a light on this team," junior rower Mehreen Khan said. "She represents what it means to live in Philly."

What does she see when she looks back on her freshman year?

"She would be so proud," Kaulbach said. "Even when I got here, my coaches discounted me and they didn't give me chances and I still took what little they gave me and made sure to show them that I deserved everything I got."

With a front row seat, Kaulbach defines her own heart and hustle.

If you know of an athlete or coach that you want to see on Hometown Hustle, you can email Krystle Rich at hometownhustle@cbs.com.