Wiltfong provides leadership for rowing team

Now in her third year of racing as a member of the K-State rowing team, Hanna Wiltfong has made every moment of her tenure count. Although she was a high school student who lettered in both volleyball and basketball and was looking at her college options, she had never planned on participating on an athletic team at the college level.

After the rowing team expressed interest, Wiltfong visited K-State on a recruiting trip and fell in love with the sport and the university. She has since developed a family among her fellow athletes that will last a lifetime.

"I never planned on coming to college to do anything athletic," Wiltfong said. "When I got the mail about becoming a rower at K-State and fitting the height requirements and whatnot, I didn't know what to expect. When I finally got here though, I was really comfortable with the other girls. I felt at home, like for once I wasn't the only six-foot girl in the world."

On that visit, Wiltfong met Amanda Weishaar, junior on the rowing team. They formed a special bond and became roommates. Not only do they share nearly every experience together on the water, but off the water the two are even closer friends. Both are majoring in mass communications.

"We are both PR people, we have the same journey and we've gone through the same stuff," Wiltfong said. "It's like we're kindred spirits. We have invited rowers into our row family ever since."

Wiltfong has enjoyed a unique journey through rowing. She is a captain of the team and is gearing up for the end of the first year of what is expected to be a great three-year run for the Wildcats.

As a freshman, she was redshirted, which meant her first year consisted of hours of practice without a lick of competition. Wiltfong and her fellow family of rowers have now progressed to the varsity level and are now the crew leaders.

"She is thought highly of by the rest of the girls on the team," said head coach Patrick Sweeney. "She is very vocal and very dedicated and works very hard. She is the type of person that you want on the program. She is driven to do well and we're really happy to have her here."

Wiltfong has provided a unique sense of leadership for the Wildcats. One of her most memorable moments came over spring break, when the team trained in Austin, Texas. It was a grueling time for most of the girls on the crew, but she found a way to make it a little more enjoyable for the group.

"A huge memory that I'll never forget as a captain is when the team got to go to laser tag over spring break in Austin," Wiltfong said. "Every day we passed this laser tag place, and it was baiting us. I somehow talked to the coaches and they bought into it. Sweeney decided that we could play laser tag one night. It was one of the best workouts we got as a team for fun. People put on their war paint, and everybody was talking about it."

Team bonding and becoming a family are the themes Wiltfong tries to instill into the team.

She said one of the biggest experiences she will remember is the feeling of representing a winning team.

"Holding up the trophy and handing it over to my team after winning the Sunflower Showdown was a feeling I will never forget," Wiltfong said. "And I hope we get to do it again this weekend."