Destiny Works Miracles (feat. Kate Knifton)

For Stars Podcast

You heard it right folks… welcome to another episode of the For Stars Podcast, where today we had the pleasure of hearing the story and pearls of wisdom from Austin, Texas’ very own, Kate Knifton, the (currently) two-time consecutive NCAA national champion in the Women’s 8+ (stroking both of those boats), 2022 USRowing Under-23 Female Athlete of the Year and World Champion in the Women’s 4-, Kate has a story and it’s worth discussing! Knifton’s impact on the squad at the University of Texas-Austin is truly one of a kind, and after having podcasts with a plethora of her current & past teammates, it was only fitting to get her highlighted! Kate’s way with the boat is almost like Yoda with the Force… the two mesh well together!
Like many rowers and coxswains, the introduction to crew or anything in life, is never one to put to the side and not discuss as it is an essential part of any career for that matter. Kate took her father, Matt Knifton’s advice (Founder of the Texas Rowing Center and Texas Crew alum), and started peaking into the art of rowing, shortly after her dance career in the Fall of 2015. Kate committed to row and study at the University of Texas during her junior year, and from that moment on, everything changed. After many trials and tribulations, Kate made her way to compete for the United States, where she was invited to Selection Camp in 2017 - one of the pinnacles in rowing for the nation. Originally, was moved to the High Performance Group but that called up last minute to the World’s group, where she then raced the U19 Women’s Pair. Fast forwarding to her senior year, her and her pair partner, Kate Burns, got 2nd at Youth Nationals, competing for her home club of the Texas Rowing Center and later that summer got 3rd at U19 Worlds, in the Coxed Four. After Texas Rowing won the 2022 NCAA National Championship, Kate and her teammates made their way to U23 Selection Camp, where her and three of her teammates competed in the Straight Four during trials, and advanced onto the World Rowing level, securing a World Championship in Italy. It was a great summer, but all while she was doing great things, she was rowing through an injury, more specifically a herniated disk and had to get spinal surgery that Fall, which took her out of the seat for quite some time, but rowing never escaped her mind or daily activities one bit.
We speak on what to do when one is faced with injuries, moving forward from it, and other topics as well. Kate made it clear that what you see online is not always what it appears to be. This past year after all of the success that Texas Rowing has had, upgraded into a new Locker Room and Rowing facility! Kate and Hudson talk about what it means to be a Texas Teammate and the true sportsmanship the team has, the Hook ‘Em culture, stroke seat and coxswain relationship and when/how to develop respect for each other, daily life as a UT student-athlete, their tradition of “UT Rowing - Black Friday”, the influence of the coaching staff and more specifically Head Coach Dave O’Neill, the importance of implementing cross-fit into training, going hard every workout so the future ones won’t be as difficult, advice for 2k prep and workouts in general, the influence her parents and teammates has had on her life, more specifically coxswain, Rachel Rane. Kate couldn’t imagine getting to this point in her career, and let me tell you - none of this was as easy as it sounds, one has to put their foot forward and work!

Be sure to tune into Kate’s journey and although this is her last year of racing for the Longhorns, she is pumped to inspire future athletes to nev

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Chapters

1. Destiny Works Miracles (feat. Kate Knifton) (00:00:00)

2. [Ad] Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast (00:21:22)

3. (Cont.) Destiny Works Miracles (feat. Kate Knifton) (00:22:00)