K-State Women’s Rowing comes to the end of the fall semester boasting the signing of 12 Wildcats to National Letters of Intent.
The athletic potential represented in these young women is the most crucial building block of Head Coach Patrick Sweeney’s program. All 12 signees come primarily from the state of Kansas, and hail from a wide variety of athletic experience. Under Coach Sweeney’s direction, K-State Rowing has built itself up on the principles that “length equals leverage” plus the motto that “hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.”  
Sweeney acknowledges the ongoing efforts of Recruiting Coordinator Grace Ure and Graduate Assistant Hanna Wiltfong in identifying, contacting, and presenting the program to this semester’s signers. “I am pleased with this season’s crop of new athletes and look forward to these young women coming in and continuing the growth of our program. It’s exciting to give them the opportunity to become Division I athletes and watch them learn how to work hard and move the team forward.”
Last spring, the Wildcats had their most successful season in program history that included earning victories over nationally-ranked Oklahoma at the Longhorn Invitational, as well as finishing a program-best second at the Big 12 Championship. All the athletes earning this result for the team were the product of Sweeney’s system of recruiting and developing homegrown talent.
This semester’s National Letter of Intent signers include the following:
• Katie Bohl, a basketball and volleyball player from Norton Community High School, looking to study animal science at K-State.
• Nikole Cain, who ran cross country and plays basketball for Mission Valley High School, pursuing a career in either agricultural communications and/or education through her studies at K-State.
• Abigail Dressler, a cross country runner and soccer player from Olathe East, currently undecided in her field of study but looking forward to minoring in Leadership Studies.
•  Abby Ewert, volleyball player and discus and javelin thrower for Saint James Academy, also as yet undecided in her career ambitions.
•  Ginger Gecho, volleyball and basketball player from Trinity Catholic High School in Hutchinson, coming to K-State to lay the groundwork of becoming a physical therapist.
• Rachel Haskell, volleyball and basketball player also competing in long jump, triple jump, and high jump for Shawnee Mission East High School and starting on the athletic training career path at K-State.
• Natasha Johnson, basketball player, 800m runner, and shot put thrower for Council Grove High School in her senior year, coming to K-State for a degree in mechanical engineering.
• Brooke Pemberton, basketball player and shot put thrower for Fossil Ridge High School, Fort Collins, Colo., for her senior year and intends to pursue philosophy and pre-law at K-State for a career in the field of justice.
• Grace Reilly, club soccer player from Tonganoxie, attending K-State for a degree in pre-med with a view toward becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
• Breanna Schartz, tennis, basketball, and track athlete from Central Plains High school in Claflin, will be following in her sister’s footsteps—Hillary Schartz having competed as a Wildcat coxswain in the 1V8 for the past two seasons and now finishing her fifth year at K-State as a volunteer coach and graduating in Wildlife and Conservation Biology in May.
• Ashlyn Spellman, volleyball and basketball player for Olpe High School also coming to K-State to pursue a career in athletic training.
• Mattie Warner, volleyball and basketball player from Halstead High School, comes to K-State for a degree in graphic design.
With the spring season still months away, K-State continues to prep for the 2015 campaign that will start in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma Invitational on March 7-8. For more information, visit www.k-statesports.com.