Dec. 3, 2009

Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa women's rowing head coach Kevin Harris announced today the signing of National Letters-of-Intent by Amelia (Amy) Nelson, Kimberly Poff and Blair Bradley.

"It is a great beginning to our 2010 class," Harris said. "We have been working hard on brining in the right mix of students for Tulsa and these women are exemplary examples of that effort."

Nelson is a 5'11" rower from the Milwaukee Rowing Club in Milwaukee, Wis. She will join former MRC rowers Abigail Gorman and Emily Wynn (both sophomores) on Tulsa's team. Nelson began rowing in August of 2009, but has already proven herself to be a talent in the sport. This fall she earned a spot in MRC's top boat and participated in the Head of the Charles Regatta finishing 21st in a field of 74 boats entered in the Youth 8+. Nelson is also a varsity basketball player and shot putter at Brookfield East High School in Brookfield, Wis. She wishes to study history at Tulsa.

"The moment I met Amy, I said to myself `we need this young woman at TU'," Harris said. "It's obvious from watching her that she is a competitor no matter what she does. She is the type of rower that makes the women around her better by example, and I am really excited to see her at Tulsa."

A 5'4" coxswain from TC Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., Poff has been the varsity lightweight coxswain since her freshman year and will be competing to be the varsity open weight coxswain this season. She has had an outstanding scholastic and club rowing career to date at TC Williams. In 2008, she steered her boat to a Virginia State Championship and came close again in 2009 earning the silver medal. Her boats have also medaled twice at the Canadian Scholastic Championships earning silver in both 2008 and 2009 in the 63kg Lightweight Women's 8+ event. This past summer and fall Poff steered boats for junior and masters crews at the Old Dominion Boat Club in Alexandria, Va. She hopes to study engineering at TU. TC Williams is also the alma mater of Coach Harris who served as co-captain of the rowing team in 1987 and later as volunteer assistant coach in 1990.

"Kim is an impressive young athlete," Harris said. "I have been watching her for about a year now and her coaches at TCW can't say enough good things about her. She is a combination between the best general you ever met and a mad scientist in the boat. Poff will be a great addition to our already outstanding group of coxswains and she will make us all faster. I am also excited to have a fellow Titan on our team."

Blair Bradley is a 5'8" rower from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Md. She competes scholastically for BCCHS and is also a rower for Thompson's Boat Center in Washington, D.C. Bradley has been a successful rower at BCCHS winning the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Championships in 2008 and 2009. Her crew also medaled at the Stotesbury Cup in 2007. In the summer of 2009, she competed at the US Rowing Club Championships and the Canadian Henley for TBC. Bradley anticipates pursuing a degree in deaf education at Tulsa.

"I am very happy with Blair's decision to row at Tulsa," Harris said. "She had a wonderful visit here and fit with our current team exceptionally well. She came to us highly recommended by her coaches and is a strong rower who will only become more and more polished in her senior year at high school and throughout her career at Tulsa. I can already see she is going to be a huge contributor to TU in her four years here."

Tulsa Women's Rowing

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