College Achievers: Once a Hersey volleyball star, now one of Iowa’s women in the boat
The Big Ten Conference last week named its “Boats of the Week” for rowing.
One of them was the University of Iowa women’s Varsity Eight, based on their performance at the Sarasota 2K in Florida.
On that Hawkeyes boat — which she never could have imagined before her junior year at Hersey High School — was sophomore Leah Nawrot.
“Honestly, no, I didn’t think that, and I’m really blessed that I’ve been able to row with such great people,” Nawrot said Friday from Oak Ridge, Tenn., where Iowa was set to compete at the Rocky Top Invite.
High school and college football fans will be familiar with Nawrot’s younger brother, Jake, the Huskies’ quarterback who according to Rivals.com has 22 Division I scholarship offers.
He was in Sarasota with his parents, Paul and Becky, getting his first live view of his powerful sister slicing water as a port-side rower.
“When we finished our race my family was standing right by the shore and cheering super loud. I could see he had a huge smile on his face,” Leah Nawrot said.
At Hersey, she was a volleyball star at outside hitter, a Daily Herald All-Area pick, twice a Mid-Suburban East all-conference selection and captain of the Huskies as a junior and senior.
She’d hoped to continue playing volleyball in college, until the tide turned when an Iowa rowing coach saw Nawrot’s NCAA recruiting page online during her junior year.
“She messaged me saying, ‘You’re tall (6 feet), you look strong, we’d love you to come to a camp or come visit Iowa and we’d be interested in talking to you about rowing,’” Nawrot said.
Her total rowing experience before enrolling at Iowa and earning a varsity letter as a freshman consisted of a four-day camp at the University of Wisconsin, and the Hawkeyes camp held over several hours.
“I feel like I learn something new almost every day. There are days when things feel good, and others that are not my best,” said Nawrot, who in February was selected to the 2026 For Stars Network Watchlist in Division I rowing.
“This sport is about being uncomfortable most of the time, and I have learned to start being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I would definitely say that I am more comfortable rowing in a boat than last year,” she said.
While studying finance and risk management, Nawrot dedicates more than 20 hours a week to the rowing team in season during the spring, and nearly 20 hours a week in the fall. It is as physically rigorous as seen in movies such as “The Boys in the Boat.”
It helps to have a kinship with 64 teammates. Though Nawrot’s coxswain in Sarasota was Loyola Academy graduate Carissa Cochico from Morton Grove, and Iowa rosters Haley Hayes (Naperville Central), Madeline Reid (Elk Grove), and Emma Tate (Wheaton Academy), Nawrot’s “Boat of the Week” teammates included students from Australia and Great Britain.
“It definitely is as hard as the movie depicts it. But you have a special bond with the people in your boat, because you’re all going through it together,” Nawrot said.
“There’s something so rewarding when you’re done with a really hard workout or a really tough race and you win. It’s just great, it’s so fun being with your best friends and rowing with them every day.”
Dominating
On March 28 in DeKalb, Northern Illinois University’s Max Vaisvila (Willowbrook) took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of a 5-0 win over Bowling Green. The next week he was named pitcher of the week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the College Baseball Foundation, and was named to Baseball America’s Team of the Week.
The senior left-hander finished with a 9-inning complete-game against Bowling Green, allowing 1 hit while striking out 14 batters and walking two on 109 pitches. He pitched the Huskies’ first complete-game 1-hitter since 2012, and those 14 strikeouts rank second at NIU.
After a no-decision Friday against Massachusetts, Vaisvila had a 5-0 record with a 2.66 ERA in 50⅔ innings pitched, with 51 strikeouts and 11 walks. Hitters were batting .210 against him.