Hall of Fame

Rachel Miller
- Induction:
- 2018
- Class:
- 2003
Rachel Miller
Rowing (1999-2003)
Meeteetse, Wyoming
MSU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2018
HIGHLIGHTS:

HALL OF FAME FEATURE: CLASS OF 2018
On Rachel Miller's undergraduate bio page on the Michigan State Athletics website, she offered the following quote.
"Rowing sneaks its way into your soul to surprise you. One day you finally realize that it is a dynamic part of what makes you....you."
It's a quote that still resonates with her to this day. She's more aware of it when she comes back to campus, attends MSU rowing alumni events, or attends regattas. And as someone who was introduced to rowing only when she got to campus in the fall of 1999, it's something that helped make her the most decorated athlete in the early days of the Michigan State rowing program. Joining the team as a freshman -- when it was in just its third season as a varsity sport at Michigan State - rowing was almost as new to East Lansing as it was to the freshman who came to campus and subsequently earned All-America honors three times.
A sport long dominated by teams on both coasts, the new Spartan varsity rowing program made a sizeable statement right away. During the crew's inaugural 1997-98 season, MSU became the first school ever to qualify a varsity eight for the NCAA Championships in its first year of collegiate competition. In 1998-99, MSU became just the second school to earn a team bid to the Championships during its second year of competition. The head coach was Bebe Bryans (now the head coach at Wisconsin), and her assistant was now-MSU head coach Matt Weise, who has been on staff for the entirety of its varsity existence after serving as the head coach of the club team before its elevation as a varsity sport.
Under the direction of Bryans and Weise, the program was already off to a hot start when Miller found her way to East Lansing from rural Meeteetse, Wyoming, in the fall of 1999. She was her class valedictorian and a member of the National Honor Society member who earned All-State honors in basketball and was an all-conference volleyball player, and also ran track. She was a member of the school's student council who participated in both drama and choir -- so a variety of interests and trying different things wasn't exactly straying off the beaten path for Miller.
"From the time I was small, I was involved in sports. I love being on a team and the purity of athletic competition along with sportsmanship," admits Miller. "I come from a family of teachers and so there was also a strong focus on academics. As I started to look beyond high school, I knew that I needed academic scholarships to be able to afford to go to University."
A unique opportunity for Miller came in the way of Michigan State's STARR Charitable Foundation Scholarship. Arranged by an anonymous private donor, the STARR scholarship is for high school seniors who reside in the State of Wyoming and in the Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan. In addition to a strong academic background, candidates must be ambitious, talented, and enthusiastic in their academic and extracurricular activities, as well as exhibit leadership traits and demonstrate extraordinary skills, talents, curiosity to learn and grow, good moral character and unique characteristics that distinguish them from their peers.
"During the interview, I mentioned that my mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer my senior year of high school," remembers Miller. "Jack Shingleton [a longtime MSU administrator who by then had retired and was serving on the MSU Board of Trustees}, understood as he too had been touched by breast cancer. I'm still incredibly grateful to Jack Shingleton. The selection board took a chance on me and I will forever be thankful."
As it does every year, the rowing program was actively recruiting at freshman AOP activities when Miller arrived on campus in the fall of 1999. The coaches seek athletes who aren't playing their sports at the collegiate level -- some of the biggest rowing success stories on campuses nationwide are former high school standouts who weren't playing their sport at a Division I institution, but could learn the techniques and technical aspects of rowing. If they poured commitment and effort into their new sport, it could allow them to be a part of a successful, championship-level program on the water. Miller remembers being handed a postcard during her first days on campus that advertised the opportunity to try out for this new sport. She quickly learned that it was going to be just what she wanted and needed as a former three-sport scholastic standout back in Wyoming.
"I love being a part of a team and the family feel of the rowing team was a perfect fit for a small town girl far from home. At novice rowing tryouts, I developed friendships that I still have today. As for the sport, I wouldn't say I enjoyed getting up at the crack of dawn but once we were in the boats and on the water there was not a better way to start the day. The calm water of the river, the sun rising, and the feeling of the boat moving as we raced across the water... I loved it!"
As a true freshman in the spring of 2000, Miller quickly earned a spot in MSU's second varsity eight. The first-ever Big Ten Championship was held in Madison, Wisconsin, and MSU finished second to Michigan. This helped propel the Spartans into the NCAA Championship regatta. The Spartans led wire-to-wire in the petite final to claim a seventh-place finish in the 2V race, which helped MSU to an eighth-place team finish.
Weise was Miller's coach her freshman year. "Rachel was a powerful rower right from the start. She was pulled up from the novice eight to the second varsity eight during the spring of her freshmen year. Rachel was able to handle a great deal. She seemed to be unfazed by the workload that rowing required and she helped raise the standard of performance for our team both on and off the water.
"Once we had decided to move her up into the second varsity eight, we did a race piece in one of those first practices," he recalled. "I asked the boat how it went. The vets in the boat said, `It was bit rocky and a little wild.' I then asked, `Was it faster?' They responded, `Yes, by a lot.' That was Rachel in a nutshell in those early days. I don't think that she was the smoothest rower when she first started, but she was incredibly powerful and made boats go fast."
Obviously a fast learner, Miller continued to grow and mature in her sport, spending the next three years in MSU's top boat -- the varsity eight -- and helped the Spartans continue the early success. In 2001 Miller was named Michigan State's first First-Team All-American, as she helped MSU to a third-place finish at Big Ten Championships and a 10th-place finish at the NCAA regatta. She also secured Second-Team All-Big Ten honors. In 2002, she helped MSU to another third-place finish at Big Ten's and earned Second Team All-America honors, while pulling MSU to ninth-place team finish at the NCAA regatta. As a senior, MSU was 11th at NCAAs and finished in a tie for first place at the Big Ten championships -- but took home a second-place team trophy due to the tiebreaker. As a senior, she again earned First Team All-America honors (she was a second-team pick as a junior), completing a three-year run of earning one of the top individual honors in the sport.
The novelty of immediate team success was not something Miller and her teammates concerned themselves with. "To be honest, it isn't something we really focused on as it was happening. We wanted to be the best in the nation and that meant we needed to be willing to do what was necessary to make that happen. I was surrounded by incredible women focused on being the best who were being steered by talented coaches. In our eyes, it was bound to happen!"
Miller holds incredibly fond memories of her time in the Spartan rowing program. "The pride I felt when my family came and supported me at the different races is a big one," she recalls. "I remember Lori Kingstrom singing Eye of the Tiger to me on the starting line as I tried to push the nerves down... Krista Buzzell telling me that she knew we were going to have a good race when she heard me puking at the back of the boat ... How long the run was back to the hotel in Cocoa Beach ... The novices teasing me that I was a grandma as I knitted a scarf while waiting for the athletic trainers to 'fix' me.," she chuckles. "I also received a tremendous amount of support from Bebe, Red, and Matt as I coped with being at school while my mother was sick, and from the whole team when my mother passed away my junior year."
The program has grown over its 20 years -- more All-Americans have been named, Big Ten Championships won, NCAA bids obtained, and even an Olympian have been developed in the boathouse on the Grand River. As MSU's youngest varsity sport, Miller had the opportunity to be a part of many program firsts -- and will now add another to her resume. The program's first First-Team All-American will be the first Michigan State rower enshrined into the University's Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I was overwhelmed and a bit incredulous! It is very special," Miller says of the phone call from Athletic Director Bill Beekman alerting her to her selection to the Hall of Fame. "I have so much respect for the female rowers who paved the way for the varsity program as well as my fellow teammates that I am humbled by the honor to be the first to represent them in the Hall of Fame.
"I have attended several alumni rows and watched as the team has transitioned under Matt's leadership as head coach," she adds. "It is incredible to think about where it all started and where it is today! I am extremely proud of all the women who have shaped and will continue to shape the future of MSU's varsity rowing program."
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Rowing (1999-2003)
Meeteetse, Wyoming
MSU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2018
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Three-time All-American (2001, 2002, 2003), including first-team honors in 2001 and 2003
- First MSU rower to earn First-Team All-America honors and the first to be a three-time All-American
- Three-time All-Big Ten and CRCA Central Region honoree
- Four consecutive NCAA Championship appearances

HALL OF FAME FEATURE: CLASS OF 2018
On Rachel Miller's undergraduate bio page on the Michigan State Athletics website, she offered the following quote.
"Rowing sneaks its way into your soul to surprise you. One day you finally realize that it is a dynamic part of what makes you....you."
It's a quote that still resonates with her to this day. She's more aware of it when she comes back to campus, attends MSU rowing alumni events, or attends regattas. And as someone who was introduced to rowing only when she got to campus in the fall of 1999, it's something that helped make her the most decorated athlete in the early days of the Michigan State rowing program. Joining the team as a freshman -- when it was in just its third season as a varsity sport at Michigan State - rowing was almost as new to East Lansing as it was to the freshman who came to campus and subsequently earned All-America honors three times.
A sport long dominated by teams on both coasts, the new Spartan varsity rowing program made a sizeable statement right away. During the crew's inaugural 1997-98 season, MSU became the first school ever to qualify a varsity eight for the NCAA Championships in its first year of collegiate competition. In 1998-99, MSU became just the second school to earn a team bid to the Championships during its second year of competition. The head coach was Bebe Bryans (now the head coach at Wisconsin), and her assistant was now-MSU head coach Matt Weise, who has been on staff for the entirety of its varsity existence after serving as the head coach of the club team before its elevation as a varsity sport.
Under the direction of Bryans and Weise, the program was already off to a hot start when Miller found her way to East Lansing from rural Meeteetse, Wyoming, in the fall of 1999. She was her class valedictorian and a member of the National Honor Society member who earned All-State honors in basketball and was an all-conference volleyball player, and also ran track. She was a member of the school's student council who participated in both drama and choir -- so a variety of interests and trying different things wasn't exactly straying off the beaten path for Miller.
"From the time I was small, I was involved in sports. I love being on a team and the purity of athletic competition along with sportsmanship," admits Miller. "I come from a family of teachers and so there was also a strong focus on academics. As I started to look beyond high school, I knew that I needed academic scholarships to be able to afford to go to University."
A unique opportunity for Miller came in the way of Michigan State's STARR Charitable Foundation Scholarship. Arranged by an anonymous private donor, the STARR scholarship is for high school seniors who reside in the State of Wyoming and in the Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan. In addition to a strong academic background, candidates must be ambitious, talented, and enthusiastic in their academic and extracurricular activities, as well as exhibit leadership traits and demonstrate extraordinary skills, talents, curiosity to learn and grow, good moral character and unique characteristics that distinguish them from their peers.
"During the interview, I mentioned that my mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer my senior year of high school," remembers Miller. "Jack Shingleton [a longtime MSU administrator who by then had retired and was serving on the MSU Board of Trustees}, understood as he too had been touched by breast cancer. I'm still incredibly grateful to Jack Shingleton. The selection board took a chance on me and I will forever be thankful."
As it does every year, the rowing program was actively recruiting at freshman AOP activities when Miller arrived on campus in the fall of 1999. The coaches seek athletes who aren't playing their sports at the collegiate level -- some of the biggest rowing success stories on campuses nationwide are former high school standouts who weren't playing their sport at a Division I institution, but could learn the techniques and technical aspects of rowing. If they poured commitment and effort into their new sport, it could allow them to be a part of a successful, championship-level program on the water. Miller remembers being handed a postcard during her first days on campus that advertised the opportunity to try out for this new sport. She quickly learned that it was going to be just what she wanted and needed as a former three-sport scholastic standout back in Wyoming.
"I love being a part of a team and the family feel of the rowing team was a perfect fit for a small town girl far from home. At novice rowing tryouts, I developed friendships that I still have today. As for the sport, I wouldn't say I enjoyed getting up at the crack of dawn but once we were in the boats and on the water there was not a better way to start the day. The calm water of the river, the sun rising, and the feeling of the boat moving as we raced across the water... I loved it!"
As a true freshman in the spring of 2000, Miller quickly earned a spot in MSU's second varsity eight. The first-ever Big Ten Championship was held in Madison, Wisconsin, and MSU finished second to Michigan. This helped propel the Spartans into the NCAA Championship regatta. The Spartans led wire-to-wire in the petite final to claim a seventh-place finish in the 2V race, which helped MSU to an eighth-place team finish.
Weise was Miller's coach her freshman year. "Rachel was a powerful rower right from the start. She was pulled up from the novice eight to the second varsity eight during the spring of her freshmen year. Rachel was able to handle a great deal. She seemed to be unfazed by the workload that rowing required and she helped raise the standard of performance for our team both on and off the water.
"Once we had decided to move her up into the second varsity eight, we did a race piece in one of those first practices," he recalled. "I asked the boat how it went. The vets in the boat said, `It was bit rocky and a little wild.' I then asked, `Was it faster?' They responded, `Yes, by a lot.' That was Rachel in a nutshell in those early days. I don't think that she was the smoothest rower when she first started, but she was incredibly powerful and made boats go fast."
Obviously a fast learner, Miller continued to grow and mature in her sport, spending the next three years in MSU's top boat -- the varsity eight -- and helped the Spartans continue the early success. In 2001 Miller was named Michigan State's first First-Team All-American, as she helped MSU to a third-place finish at Big Ten Championships and a 10th-place finish at the NCAA regatta. She also secured Second-Team All-Big Ten honors. In 2002, she helped MSU to another third-place finish at Big Ten's and earned Second Team All-America honors, while pulling MSU to ninth-place team finish at the NCAA regatta. As a senior, MSU was 11th at NCAAs and finished in a tie for first place at the Big Ten championships -- but took home a second-place team trophy due to the tiebreaker. As a senior, she again earned First Team All-America honors (she was a second-team pick as a junior), completing a three-year run of earning one of the top individual honors in the sport.
The novelty of immediate team success was not something Miller and her teammates concerned themselves with. "To be honest, it isn't something we really focused on as it was happening. We wanted to be the best in the nation and that meant we needed to be willing to do what was necessary to make that happen. I was surrounded by incredible women focused on being the best who were being steered by talented coaches. In our eyes, it was bound to happen!"
Miller holds incredibly fond memories of her time in the Spartan rowing program. "The pride I felt when my family came and supported me at the different races is a big one," she recalls. "I remember Lori Kingstrom singing Eye of the Tiger to me on the starting line as I tried to push the nerves down... Krista Buzzell telling me that she knew we were going to have a good race when she heard me puking at the back of the boat ... How long the run was back to the hotel in Cocoa Beach ... The novices teasing me that I was a grandma as I knitted a scarf while waiting for the athletic trainers to 'fix' me.," she chuckles. "I also received a tremendous amount of support from Bebe, Red, and Matt as I coped with being at school while my mother was sick, and from the whole team when my mother passed away my junior year."
The program has grown over its 20 years -- more All-Americans have been named, Big Ten Championships won, NCAA bids obtained, and even an Olympian have been developed in the boathouse on the Grand River. As MSU's youngest varsity sport, Miller had the opportunity to be a part of many program firsts -- and will now add another to her resume. The program's first First-Team All-American will be the first Michigan State rower enshrined into the University's Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I was overwhelmed and a bit incredulous! It is very special," Miller says of the phone call from Athletic Director Bill Beekman alerting her to her selection to the Hall of Fame. "I have so much respect for the female rowers who paved the way for the varsity program as well as my fellow teammates that I am humbled by the honor to be the first to represent them in the Hall of Fame.
"I have attended several alumni rows and watched as the team has transitioned under Matt's leadership as head coach," she adds. "It is incredible to think about where it all started and where it is today! I am extremely proud of all the women who have shaped and will continue to shape the future of MSU's varsity rowing program."
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