Nov. 22, 2016
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head rowing coach Bill Zack has announced the signing of 10 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent. The 10 signees – Kaytlin Barker (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS), Julia Camillucci (Auburn, Calif./Placer HS), Ashley Coon (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS), Maire Shannon Malloy (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Notre Dame Academy), Monty Miller (Seattle, Wash./Ballard HS), Grace Reginato (Sacramento, Calif./St. Francis Catholic HS), Arianna Thomas (Sacramento, Calif./Ponderosa HS), Hannah Broadland (Rancho Cordova, Calif./Rio Americano HS), Chloe King (Orange, Calif./El Modena HS) and Charlie Toffel (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) – will join the Aztecs in the fall of 2017.
"We are very excited to add these ten student-athletes to the Aztec rowing family," Zack said. "They were all attracted by the strong academics at San Diego State, the outstanding team environment and recent success of the rowing team, and the great support of the athletic department. Of course the weather in San Diego, as well as the beaches and other attractions, play an important part too. All of their high school teams have really good coaches, so we know they will be well-prepared when they get here in August of 2017. We continue with other recruiting activity and know that we will add a bit more to the current recruiting class during the regular signing period in April."
Kaytlin Barker, who began rowing during her freshman year of high school, has seen continued success with her crew at Upper Natoma Rowing Club. Barker was selected for the 2016 USRowing Junior Women High Performance Team. At the 2016 USRowing Club National Championships, she raced in the intermediate eight, U-19 eight, U-19 coxed four, and U-19 pair, where she won a bronze medal in the U-19 eight and placed fifth in the intermediate eight. Barker rowed in the UNRC's varsity four at the 2015 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships, where her crew won the event and went on to place second at the 2015 USRowing Youth National Championships. She also raced in the UNRC's varsity quad and varsity double at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships.
Julia Camillucci of Auburn, Calif., is the senior class president and a tri-sport athlete at Placer HS. She played outside hitter and middle blocker for both Placer HS's volleyball team as well as the Auburn Aces Volleyball Club. Camillucci qualified for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for volleyball in her junior and senior years at Placer. She also plays post and guard for her high school basketball team, a group that made it to the semi-final round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs in her junior year, qualifying the team for the CIF Northern Section regional playoffs. In addition, Camillucci is a member of her high school track and field team and participates in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and high jump. She placed second in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2016 CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 and 5 championships.
Ashley Coon, a senior at Dana Hill HS from Laguna Niguel, Calif., started rowing in the fall of her sophomore year of high school. Coon currently rows at the Newport Aquatic Center, where she was a member of the club's junior varsity eight crew at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships, where her boat placed second. She also competes for the Dana Outrigger Canoe Club in Dana Point, Calif.
Maire Shannon Malloy of Fort Mitchell, Ky., started rowing in the fall of her freshman year and has made the finals at the USRowing Youth National Championships in three different years. She rowed in the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club first varsity eight at the 2016 Midwest Junior Rowing Championships and went on to win the silver medals at the 2016 USRowing Youth National Championships. In 2015, Malloy rowed in the CJRC youth four with coxswain that placed sixth at Youth National Championships and in 2014 rowed in the CJRC lightweight eight that placed fourth at Youth National Championships.
Monty Miller, a senior at Ballard HS in Seattle, Wash., started rowing in the fall of her freshman year while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club. Miller moved to Seattle and joined Pocock Rowing Center in the spring semester of her sophomore year, where she rowed in the club's second varsity eight at the 2015 USRowing Northwest Youth Championships, placing second. She also rowed in the PRC's first varsity eight at the 2016 USRowing Northwest Youth Championships, where her boat placed sixth.
A Sacramento, Calif., native, Grace Reginato started rowing in the fall of eighth grade. She rows with the Capital Crew Junior Rowing Program out of the Sacramento State Aquatic Center, where she was a member of the junior varsity eight at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships, with her boat placing third. Reginato also placed sixth in the women's junior eight at the 2016 Head of the Lake regatta. Reginato currently attends St. Francis Catholic HS.
Arianna Thomas, also of Sacramento, Calif., attends Ponderosa HS and is also a member of the Capital Crew Junior Rowing Progam. Thomas started rowing in the fall of eighth grade. She rowed in the Capital Crew third varsity eight at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships and placed first. Thomas was also a member of the same women's junior eight boat as Reginato that placed sixth at the 2016 Head of the Lake regatta.
Hannah Broadland of Rancho Cordova, Calif., attends Rio American HS and started as a coxswain in the fall of her freshman year. Broadland, like Reginato and Thomas, is a member of the Capital Crew Junior Rowing Program and was the coxswain for the same Capital Crew junior varsity eight team as Reginato that placed third at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships. Part of the Row West Racing Camp in summer 2016, she raced in the intermediate eight, intermediate coxed four, and U-19 coxed four at the 2016 USRowing Club National Championships. Broadland is also a pianist and has played for 10 years.
Chloe King, a native of Orange, Calif., started as a coxswain in the fall of her junior year at the Newport Aquatic Center alongside Coon. King was the coxswain for the NAC novice four at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships, where her boat placed fifth. Outside rowing, she is a member of National Charity League and is working toward a private pilot license. King was also a member of the El Modena HS cheer team her freshman and sophomore years.
Like Coon and King, Charlie Toffel currently rows at the Newport Aquatic Center, where she started as a coxswain in the fall of her freshman year. Toffel was the coxswain for the Newport Aquatic Center lightweight eight at the 2016 USRowing Southwest Youth Championships, where they won the event and went on to place sixth at the 2016 USRowing Youth National Championships. A native of Costa Mesa, Calif., Toffel attends Newport Harbor HS. She is a triplet; her other two siblings are boys.
The 10 signees will join an Aztec Rowing team that has claimed at least two medals at each of the last three WIRA Championships under Zack's tenure as the head coach. Under Zack's direction, the program had a record-high four student-athletes named to the 2015 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) National Scholar-Athlete list, three honored on the 2016 CRCA scholar-athlete list and saw 31 student-athletes earn all-academic honors from the American Athletic Conference for the 2015-16 season alone.