Nicole Burdiek had big changes in mind as the fall semester came to a close at Kansas State in 2008. As most students prepared to go home for about a month, Burdiek planned to go home for good.
The 2007 graduate of Emporia High had recently learned she was expecting a child. Burdiek had been rowing at Kansas State, and thought her news would prevent her from remaining on the team. Thinking her sport was off the table, Burdiek had plans to transfer to Emporia State to be closer to family members who could help her raise her child. She was so certain she would be unable to rejoin the rowing team that she packed her team-issued gear before she told her coaches, thinking she would have to return it.
The result of the meeting came as a surprise to Burdiek. She was told to hang on to the gear, told there would be an option to return to the team after she gave birth. Two-and-a-half years later, she still rows at Kansas State and was recently named the university’s most inspirational athlete at the PowerCat Choice Awards. Her son, Logan, will turn 2 later this month. She earned the award while up against a basketball player who worked through seven surgeries and a football player who dealt with the death of his mother.
As Burdiek describes it, being a student-athlete and a single mother is not as difficult as others seem to think it is.
“A lot of people make comments of, ‘Oh, it must be so hard.’ I just don’t see it as being that hard,” Burdiek said. “Plenty of people have kids and go to work and go to school, so it’s not anything out of the ordinary, I don’t think.”
In fact, her grades have improved significantly since Logan’s birth, something she did not expect.
Before she was a mother, Burdiek said she sometimes procrastinated on her schoolwork like many other college students. Now, each minute must be used more productively in her busy schedule.
She usually wakes up at about 6:30 in the morning to get her son to daycare before she reports to a 7:30 a.m. practice. From there, she heads to her classes, which are often followed by an afternoon weight session. At around 4 p.m., it’s time to pick up Logan from daycare.
With the need to take care of Logan, doing homework after 4 p.m. becomes difficult. So she tries to use each minute wisely during the day, getting as much work done in between classes as she can. Although there is a “lunch break,” built into her day, it’s somewhat of a misnomer because it’s often spent in the library working on schoolwork.
“I didn’t do bad freshman year, but I’ve pretty much had a 4.0 ever since he has come along,” she said. “Because I’m a lot more focused on my studies.”
When Burdiek’s coaches told her she could remain on the team, it wasn’t without its conditions. When she missed the 2009 season, she had to work in the team office to maintain her scholarship. Part of her job was working on recruiting letters like the one that had drawn her to the sport in the first place.
Because there are few opportunities for high school rowing in the region, Kansas State’s approach to recruiting involves looking for athletes who are at least 5-foot-10 and played other sports in high school. Burdiek and close friend and high school classmate Anna Young were both contacted as they finished high school. They had played various sports in high school, both participating in volleyball, basketball and track for at least part of their time at EHS. Burdiek is 6-0 and Young is 5-11.
When Burdiek and Young visited Kansas State, they connected with their future teammates and decided to row for the Wildcats despite having no experience with the sport.
“I was just in shock, I didn’t really know why they were calling me,” Young said. “So, I don’t know, I thought it sounded neat, I like a lot of water-type things, I did a lot of lifeguarding and like I said, I swam for a year. So I thought maybe I might like it. I thought it was really neat, though to personally get a call from their coach.”
After her work in the team office, Burdiek returned to workouts just a few weeks after giving birth in July 2009, though she didn’t have her old fitness level when she first returned. Young saw her struggle to regain form in the weight room.
“She wasn’t able to lift quite as much, obviously, as she used to,” Young said. “I don’t know, I can just tell, I’ve been around her so much that when she gets quiet and she just gets that look on her face that I can tell. And our lifting coach would ask her how she was, she wouldn’t cry until someone asked her how she was and then sometimes she just broke down in tears. And just talking to her outside of weights and stuff, she was mostly just frustrated that she couldn’t lift what she used to. She was hoping to just get right back in it.”
Eventually, though, Burdiek regained her form. She competed in the first varsity eight boat during the 2010 spring season, though she spent most of the 2011 season in the second varsity eight boat. Young has competed in the first varsity eight boat for the past two seasons.
The Wildcats took third in the 2011 season in the Big 12 (four of the conference’s schools compete in rowing,) and took sixth in their regional Conference USA regatta at the end of the season. Both Burdiek and Young have one season of eligibility remaining, and both are hoping to improve personally in hopes of improving the squad.
After they finish their careers at K-State, both have their eyes on graduate school. Young is a double major in kinesiology and gerontology and is looking into pursuing occupational therapy. Burdiek is majoring in psychology and family studies and human services and is looking into going to graduate school at Washburn, though she hasn’t honed in on exactly what career she would like to pursue.
For now, though, Burdiek is spending the summer in Manhattan, working out with the goal of rejoining Young in the first varsity eight boat next season. All while taking care of Logan, whose voice can be heard in the background as she conducts a phone interview.
“It was very inspirational, she got the award and I think that’s the only way to describe it,” Young said.