Catching up with Cowgirl Soccer. Former Wyoming student-athlete Georgia Rowntree was a four-year letterwinner and goalkeeper for the Cowgirls from 2014-17. She still ranks among the top ten in school history in three categories including goals against average, goalkeeper minutes, and shutouts plus earned Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week twice. A four-time Academic All-Mountain West selection and Second Team Academic All-District selection, she graduated with degree in kinesiology and health promotion. She is currently a Doctor of Physical Therapy student at Columbia University Medical Centre, NYC. She's about to start her final year of study where she'll move into advanced course work, electives and then onto terminal clinical internships. She helps lead an elective called CancerFIT that provides free supervised exercise classes to patients with cancer in two hospitals. Rowntree is also a member of the ColumbiaRun lab where they conduct motion analysis and clinical evaluations on elite runners to help them optimize performance and manage injury. Lastly, she is member of a research team evaluating how concussion impacts gait and balance in college football players, working closely with an NFL neurologist. Going forward post-graduation, she is hoping to concentrate in both women's health physical therapy and the emerging field of oncological physical therapy. Media Relations recently caught up with her to see what's been going on.
What steps did you take to get into your current career field? The path towards PT school really started early with me when I chose my major at UW. I learned so much about health and human movement in my undergraduate degree and I always had the idea of applying to PT school. I worked really closely with my academic advisors and coaches to make sure I completed all my pre-requisite courses and maintained a good GPA so that I had the best chance possible when applying.
How did your involvement in athletics aid in the path that you chose following graduation? Physical Therapy is really about helping people move so that they can live their lives to the fullest. My background in athletics gave me a huge passion for exercise and movement that has really helped me throughout PT school. Most of all being involved in athletics taught me some invaluable life skills about teamwork. PT's work with a large inter-professional team of surgeons, nurses, occupational/speech/respiratory therapists, nutritionists, aides as well as the patient and their family. Being able to confidently work within and even lead a team, especially during tough times, is a vital skill that my time as a cowgirl taught me.
What piece of advice would you give current student-athletes? Don't take anything for granted! Treasure the time you get with your teammates, it's over too soon. Keep doing your best on and off the field, all of the little efforts every day really do accumulate and pay off in the end!
What is your fondest memory of playing at the University of Wyoming? We played against some huge teams in amazing places throughout my career, Baylor, KU, Hawaii just to name a few, but I always loved home games at 7220 in the Louis S. Madrid! My senior year we played in a thick snowstorm against San Jose. They were one of the top teams in the conference that year and we were definitely the underdogs but we were able to grind out a win in gritty Cowgirl fashion. Our fans stayed outside in the cold with us the whole game and I even managed to make a couple of good saves too! For me that game really represents what it means to be a Wyoming Cowgirl.
How did your previous coaches influence you? I've been exceptionally lucky to have amazing coaches through my career. The main thing they all taught me was that there is no substitute for hard work – effort won't betray you. It's a message I really try to embody every day.
