Reilly has decided to hang up her cleats after high school, instead signing with the Kansas State University rowing team Wednesday in the THS Chieftain Room.

“I’m going to tell you up front that our rowing coach was unable to make it,” THS principal Jamie Carlisle joked at the ceremony.

Currently a stranger to the sport she’ll take up next fall, Reilly said Manhattan and the K-State campus were more appealing than several out-of-state schools she visited for soccer. The rowing program came up in conversation late in the summer, and one campus visit later, Reilly had seen all she needed to see.

“It was kind a combination of I found them and they found me,” she said. “With rowing, they recruit girls that are really tall and athletic. I looked into it, contacted the coaches and went up for my visit, and here we are.”

Reilly isn’t the first Chieftain to become a member of the Wildcat rowing program. She joins 2003 THS grad Jennifer Reischman and 2008 grad Kaitlyn Saathoff. Reilly admitted she’s never rowed a boat, but comes from an athletic background. She played two years of soccer at Tonganoxie and still plays for a club team.

That, coupled with her taller-than-average height, made for what she hopes will be a smooth transition into a new sport. She said she stands 5-10 or 5-11, which would put her on par with several members of the current K-State roster.

“I refuse to be 6-foot,” she said.

Reilly has been involved in several extracurricular activities during her time as a Chieftain. In addition to soccer, she’s been in choir and band for four years, is a member of the National Honor Society and currently serves as the senior class secretary.

“She loves to excel,” Carlisle said of Reilly. “She’s a 4.0 young lady with a 30-something ACT. She has chosen to devote her life to achieving at a very high level, and we are just so proud of that.

“Of all the college opportunities that kids have, when you talk about a (Division I) school and being involved in a D-1 capacity as an athlete, it’s a tremendous accomplishment.”

Reilly said coaches told her to make fitness a priority in the months leading up to her first season. She already runs at least five miles a day and plans to increase her workout regimen.

Reilly will join a K-State squad under the direction of 12th-year head coach Patrick Sweeney. The Wildcats, who compete jointly in the Big 12 and Conference USA, combined for 12 top-10 finishes in two meets this fall. They’ll open the spring portion of their schedule March 7 at the Oklahoma Invitational in Oklahoma City.