Senior Stories: Heinecke Fully Embraced Learning a New Role

By Gabriele Gill, Special to MSUSpartans.com

Kate Heinecke had never been a coxswain - or even a rower - before she came to East Lansing. But today, the Michigan State senior is the voice steering her boat and a leader shaping the culture of the entire women's rowing program.

Heinecke came to Michigan State after graduating from St. Paul (Minn.) Central High School. She piqued an interest in rowing after members of her high school swim team advanced to compete for college rowing teams. After practicing with the team but not competing during her freshman year, she took to learning how to be a coxswain.

The position is critical: it is the person in charge of steering and commanding the boat. She's now the loudest person on the water, but also ironically the smallest. Heinecke, who stands 5-foot-4, worked her way into the role.

"At first, I was very nervous and shy. I think as I grew more confident in the sport and learned all the different parts of it, I developed my skill and made the changes that I want to see," Heinecke said.

Even though Heinecke felt the pressures of being in a this new role, Head Coach Stacey Rippetoe did not see the struggle in her skillset.

"For Kate, what I find interesting that a lot of people don't realize is that she learned the coxswain role very recently. She works so hard, but she's just good at this. She has a really good sense of how to handle the boat and how to be a really helpful teammate in terms of performance. She is incredibly impressive," Rippetoe said.

Being a leader is an important part of being a successful coxswain, but leadership isn't just about being the loudest voice on the water, it's also about earning the trust and respect of teammates.

"For a good coxswain, we look at people who have good peer leadership qualities. They are not afraid to be in charge of their own social group. They do a good job being a strong teammate, and that's different from being someone's friend. There is overlap, but it takes a confident person," Rippetoe said.

Heinecke recognizes the importance of her role on the boat and how success for the team revolves a lot around her presence and abilities.

"Being a coxswain is a leadership role," Heinecke said. "There's a balance in the boat of being a coach and a teammate. You're the one steering and making calls. During a race, you're generating and executing a race plan, which puts you in control."

Heinecke's teammates see her as the voice of the boat who really cares about the success of the team and wants to make everyone better. But also - someone who wants to be a friend to all.

"Outside of practice, I think Kate does a great job of making everyone feel like they are a valuable and important part of the team. With a team this big it's hard to have a super close relationship with everyone but she's always reaching out to everyone," said teammate Emily Crofut.

Not only does Heinecke recognize what is going on with her teammates, mentally and physically, she also notices it quick enough to where the problem can be fixed before it hurts the team.

"She's very quick to recognize problems in the boat and help make it better," teammate Alaina Roush said.

Heinecke's ability to recognize her team's needs is only part of the athlete's intelligence. Along with rowing, Heinecke is majoring in biosystems engineering and helped pioneer a very interesting technique to detect salmonella in poultry.

"When I was looking at Michigan State, I had gotten accepted into the professorial assistantship program, which guarantees funding for two years of undergraduate research your freshman and sophomore year. I went in as a biosystems engineering student but have always been interested in public health, disease prevention and epidemiology, and so when I found this project I was super interested," Heinecke said.

Her project was the creation of a nano-biosensor probe for the rapid detection of Salmonella utilizing the fljB gene marker. By targeting a specific genetic marker of the bacteria, her research aims to identify contamination faster than traditional testing methods. The goal is to catch outbreaks earlier, making the food supply safer before products reach consumers.

Heinecke splits her time between her athletics and academics, but the skills she needs to succeed at both are similar. It takes someone with high mental perseverance to achieve. After earning her bachelor's degree in biosystems engineering, Heinecke will continue on in the same program to earn her master's degree.

"To do these things I have to be very organized and take charge and know what I'm doing. My life has a lot of trial and error. Sometimes my experiments fail in the lab and sometimes my calls don't work on the water. I have to be mentally resilient in both fields," Heinecke said.

Michigan State University Athletics

Senior Stories: Heinecke Fully Embraced Learning a New Role

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Kate Heinecke

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