SAN DIEGO – San Diego State head rowing coach Bill Zack has announced the signing of 14 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent. The 14 signees set to join the Aztecs in the fall of 2019 include Raquel Castro, Gemma Cook, Skylar Fletcher, Emmie Frederico, Ava Fry, Ellie Gardner, Juliana Haider, Rebecca Herbig, Grace Hogan, Jissell Kruse, Safiya Lahham, Jacqueline O'Connor, Kylie Rdechor and Stephanie Rebottaro.
"We are very excited about this recruiting class," Zack said. "As the team has become competitive for a conference championship, and as San Diego State continues to climb up the national rankings academically, we are able to attract better and better athletes each year. It's great to have so many quality rowers from solid California high school teams while also keeping to our strength in recruiting from Australia, New Zealand, and throughout the rest of the U.S. As always, our current student-athletes and the enthusiasm they show for the team are the most important part of our recruiting efforts. We all look forward to welcoming this group to The Mesa next fall."
A Rocklin, Calif. native, Raquel Castro attends Rocklin HS and is a fourth-year port side rower. Castro also competes with Synergy Force Volleyball Club in Rocklin for which she serves as a captain and was a member of the all-league and all-star teams. With her club volleyball team, she attended nationals in June 2015 and competed in the Amateur Athletic Union championships in both June 2017 and June 2018. Castro has also been a member of the academic honor society since her freshman year of high school. Castro plans to major in biology at SDSU with plans of becoming a physician's assistant.
Port side rower Gemma Cook of Bishop O'Dowd HS has three years of rowing experience for the Oakland Strokes in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. Like Castro, Cook comes to the Mesa with experience as a dual-sport athlete having competed with the Bishop O'Dowd HS freshman and junior varsity volleyball teams in 2015 and 2016, respectively. From her freshman to senior years in high school, Cook has earned second honor roll status for her grade point average. Cook expects to major in Journalism with an emphasis in advertising and hopes to pursue a career in marketing and advertising after she graduates.
Skylar Fletcher of Long Beach, Calif., will join the Aztecs after graduating from Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, Calif. Fletcher brings four years of rowing experience to the team, both from the port and starboard positions, having competed with the Newport SeaBase Rowing club out of Newport Beach. Fletcher boasts vast experience across eights, fours and doubles, earning first place finishes in four of her freshman year events, four firsts as a sophomore and even qualified for regionals in the 4X where she and her crew placed fifth in the finals, three top finishes her junior season. Fletcher plans to major in tourism and hotel management at San Diego State.
Emmie Frederico of Melbourne, Australia, comes to the Mesa boasting four years of rowing experience with both the Australian Rowing Team and Firbank Grammar Rowing Club. Frederico, whose grandfather was a rower and a coach for Australian teams, has been successful in her junior rowing career, placing third at Nationals in the U21 pair in 2017, third at Nationals in the U23 four, and first place at States in the single in 2018. She is also the two kilometer ergo record holder at her high school, Firbank Grammar. In addition to her lengthy rowing experience, Frederico also competes on her high school netball team and boasts five premierships from her time with the team. Frederico will major in nutrition and looks to forge a career as a sports nutritionist for an elite sports team.
Ava Fry currently attends Los Gatos HS and rows for the Los Gatos Rowing Club, where she and fellow Aztec signee Stephanie Rebottaro are club teammates. Fry also competed previously with current Aztec freshmen Kelly Leonard and Bella DeAvila, who are Los Gatos Rowing Club alums. Fry was originally a soccer player and started rowing in the spring semester of her sophomore year. Fry competed at the 2018 USRowing Southwest Youth Championship, where she was in the Los Gatos second varsity eight. She plans to study English at SDSU and hopes to one day attend law school.
Ellie Gardner, a San Diego native, currently attends Redwood HS in Larkspur, Calif., and has competed as both a rower and a track and field athlete. Gardner has been a starboard rower with the Marin Rowing Association since the fall of 2016 where she received the Most Spirited award from her team in her first season. Gardner was a member of the Redwood track and field team in the spring of 2016, her freshman year of high school. Gardner plans to major in nutrition and possibly minor in either sustainability or psychology.
Juliana Haider of Tustin, Calif., is currently a senior at Mater Dei HS. Haider rows coxswain for Newport Aquatic Center, where she has been a member for two years and served as team captain her first year. While at Mater Dei, Haider also competed for the soccer and track teams during the 2015-16 academic year and was the Most Valuable Player on her freshman year soccer team. Haider has also had great academic success, earning recognition in both her freshman and sophomore years for obtaining a grade point average of 4.0 or higher. Haider will enter her freshman year undeclared, but is interest in both business and hospitality.
Rebecca Herbig, a native of Chicago, Ill., is a senior at Lane Tech HS. Herbig is in her third year as a rower with the Chicago Rowing Foundation where she competes as a coxswain. Herbig competed as a member of the novice team at the 2017 Midwest Junior Championships. Herbig also competed in indoor and beach volleyball with the Evolution Volleyball Academy in Chicago from 2015-17, during which time she came in second place at the Junior National Volleyball Championship in 2017 (indoor) and placed in multiple AVP beach volleyball tournaments. A member of the National Society of High School Scholars, Herbig plans to major in marine biology at SDSU.
A native of Whanganui, New Zealand, Grace Hogan joins the Aztecs with notable rowing experience from her time at Whanganui Collegiate School. Hogan has two rowing seasons under her belt with Wanganui Collegiate Rowing, where she has earned a number of top finishes including a silver media in the New Zealand Secondary School Rowing Championships, Women's U18 Novice 2X, and was 12th in New Zealand for the women's U18 single in 2018. Hogan has been familiar with the sport her whole life as her mother, Philippa Baker-Hogan was a two-time Olympian and won two World Championships in the sport. In addition to her rowing experience, Hogan was a swimmer for seven years with the Wanganui swimming team, earning fourth in the 200 backstroke at the New Zealand Division II Championships. Hogan earned a handful of academic distinctions in high school and plans to major in biology at SDSU before returning to New Zealand to study medicine.
Jissell Kruse, a current senior at Tamalpais HS in Mill Valley, Calif., started rowing her freshman year of high school. Kruse rowed port and starboard for all four years of high school as a member of the Marin Rowing Association. In 2018, she placed third in the nation at the US Rowing Youth National Championships in the four seat of the lightweight eight. Kruse plans to major in psychology at SDSU and hopes to have a career as a therapist or social worker.
Safiya Lahham is currently a senior at Rio Americano HS in Sacramento, Calif., where she has rowed port side for two years. Lahham also used to compete with the Force Volleyball Club and NCVC in Sacramento from 2012-16. Lahham intends to major in environmental law at San Diego State and later hopes to attend law school.
Jackie O'Connor attends Saint Augustine Academy in Ventura, Calif. O'Connor has three years of experience as a rower for Lake Casitas Rowing Association. In 2017, she was part of the Southwest Region team at the Youth Regional Challenge that was held in conjunction with the World Rowing Championships. At the 2018 USRowing Southwest Youth Championship, she raced in the quad and the varsity coxed four. O'Connor plans to major in biology with an eye toward medical school.
Kylie Rdechor, a Kailua, Hawaii native, attends the Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii. Rdechor currently rows for the Ikaika Hawaii Club and competes in Canoe Paddling with both the Mid-Pacific team and the Lanikai Canoe Club. Twice, she has completed a 41-mile, world-renowned paddling race titled the Na Wahine O Ke Kai from the island of Molokai to Oahu at ages 16 and 17. Rdechor has excelled in academics as a Mid-Pacific Scholar, and has been on the Mid-Pacific President's List and Honor Roll. Rdechor plans to major in Biology at SDSU with hopes of one day becoming an emergency room doctor.
Stephanie Rebottaro attends Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville, Calif., and currently rows for Los Gatos Rowing Club alongside fellow signee Ava Fry. Rebottaro is in her second year of rowing after starting her junior year of high school. At the 2018 USRowing Southwest Youth Championship, Rebottaro was a member of the top Los Gatos novice eight and coxed four crews. She is interested in majoring in either biology or psychology.