Rowing began in Kansas in 1963 when coach Don Rose founded the Kansas State Crew. A rich tradition quickly grew, and K-State was soon competing at prestigious regattas and defeating traditional powerhouses such as Wisconsin, Purdue, Syracuse and Washington. At that time, the only rowing competition that involved women was competing for the title of Regatta Queen. It was not until the summer of 1974 that K-State women competed as rowers. The first women's boat, a coxed four, included B.J. McCrae (co-captain), Jane Whitnee (co-captain), Masha Almond, Joann Davis and Pam Orloff. This team of five soon grew in numbers as rowing became more popular.
During the 1980s, women's teams steadily fielded boats but still existed in the shadows of the men's squad. This changed in 1989 when Amanda Robinson became the first women's coach at K-State. Robinson, who previously rowed for Boston University, revitalized the women's rowing club at K-State. The Wildcats began to place boats in the top five in most races. K-State alumnus Mike Lockas took a novice women's 8+ to the Women's National Championship in 1989 as well, where the boat was competitive.
A few years later, K-State alumnus Cliff Elliot took over both the men's and women's rowing clubs. Elliot continued the trend of strong finishes, including a bronze-medal performance by the Women's Varsity Lightweight 4+ at the 1991 Midwest Championships. After Elliot left in 1992, the team was under the direction of an assortment of coaches, usually students themselves or alumni of the program.
In January of 1995, student-athletes, alumni, parents and friends of the K-State Rowing Club presented a proposal to the athletics department to accept women's rowing as an NCAA Division I sport in compliance with Title IX. The Athletic Department accepted and rowing became a varsity sport in the 1996-97 academic school year under head coach Jenny Hale. A former Olympic coach for England and Belgium, Patrick Sweeney became the program's second coach in 2003. Entering his seventh year at the helm of the program, Sweeney has guided the Wildcats to unprecedented heights in his tenure.
Kansas State became the second Big 12 Conference school to add women's rowing as a varsity sport. Kansas was the first in 1995 and Texas added rowing to its varsity sport list in 1998. Oklahoma became the fourth league school to add the sport when the Sooners began competition in 2008-09.
In 2010, the four teams from the Big 12 Conference joined up with Alabama and Tennessee of the Southeastern Conference and Conference USA's Central Florida, SMU and Tulsa to create a nine-team league under the Conference USA flag. The venture enables the conference to have its champion receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship beginning in 2013.
2011 Kaitlyn Arrow Christa Bowman Weatherly Butler Sierra Cuda Danielle Glynn Whitley Jackson Traci Smiley Amanda Weishaar Hanna Wiltfong
2010 Michelle Bergman Weatherly Butler Sierra Cuda Whitley Jackson Amanda Keim Adria Ley Jackie Swab Nicole Vogt Amanda Weishaar
2009 Michelle Bergman Kilah Bond Michelle Higgins Heather Hoffman Whitley Jackson Michael Knoll Nicole Vogt
2008 Bjai Rice Heather Hoffman Michael Knoll Nicole Vogt Elizabeth Walter Michelle Higgins Whitney Revell
2007 Bjai Rice Heather Hoffman Michael Knoll Nicole Vogt Elizabeth Walter Kaci Williams Melissa Cessna Kate Dillon Danna Davidson Madga Hart-Schwartz Julia Roque Kris Richman
2006 Bjai Rice
CONFERENCE USA ALL-ACADEMIC 2012 Amanda Weishaar
2011 Whitley Jackson Amanda Weishaar
2010 Nicole Vogt
ESPN/COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT 2009 Heather Hoffman - First Team
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