Ashley Sweat

Classroom

Sweat is a kinesiology/pre-physician’s assistant major carrying a 3.58 GPA at Kansas State. She is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 first team selection (2007-08 and 2008-09) and garnered CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VII second team honors in 2008, her first career regional citation. She has also been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll six times.

Character

Sweat, a native of McPherson, Kan., will be one of K-State’s team captains this season, as she has grown into a leadership role. Her commitment to all facets of the game of basketball is revealed during practices and individual workouts as she focuses on making herself and her teammates better each day. With a strong, small-town work ethic, Sweat has endeared herself to K-State fans across the state. She is a role model to young girls throughout the state for her play on the court and her hard work in the classroom.

Community

Sweat has been an active member of the Manhattan and K-State communities during her time with the Wildcats. Following the 2008 women’s basketball season, she took part in K-State’s Relay for Life walk to benefit the American Cancer Society and the Flint Hills Community Clinic benefit basketball game to raise money for the local free clinic. She also volunteers her time for the Special Olympics All-Sports Clinic, a number of basketball camps throughout the state of Kansas and the Read to Achieve program at Manhattan’s Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School. She also assists the K-State Student-Athlete Advisory Council with two events every year, ‘Cats for Cans’ and ‘Angel Tree’. The ‘Cats for Cans’ event involves team members from each K-State athletic team collecting canned food items for the Flint Hills Food Basket before a selected football game. The ‘Angel Tree’ event occurs during the holiday season when each team selects a local family to assist during the holidays by donating gifts and money to aid in this endeavor. Sweat also grows her hair long with the intent to donate it to Locks of Love, which is a charity organization that collects hair with the intent to create wigs for children that lose their hair from cancer treatments.

Competition

Sweat, a 2009-10 Wooden Award preseason watch list honoree, enters the 2009-10 season ranked 15th in school history for career points with 1,291 and is 28th in K-State history with 441 career rebounds. She was the first junior to surpass the 1,000-point plateau in school history since the 2003-04 season. She is the 25th player in school history to record 1,000 points and 400 rebounds for a career. Sweat garnered her first All-Big 12 first team honor in 2009, as she helped lead the Wildcats to the 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in the program’s history. She was also recognized by the Dallas Morning News as an All-Big 12 second team selection. She finished fourth in the Big 12 and led K-State in scoring with a career-high 16.5 points per game and was fifth in the league in scoring during Big 12 contests with 16.9 points per game. In total, Sweat registered 545 points during the 2008-09 season and became the first player to surpass the 500-point barrier in a season since the 2004-05 season. Sweat also ranked among the Big 12 statistical leaders in free throw percentage (.835; 4th), field goal percentage (.476; 7th) and minutes played (33.67; 7th). She also set a career-high for rebounds in a season with 167 and 5.1 per game. Sweat registered a pair of 30-point efforts during her junior campaign, with a career high-tying 31 points on 9-of-12 shooting against Oklahoma State and 30 points on 14-of-19 shooting at Washington State. During a four-game stretch in February, Sweat set the school record for consecutive free throws made at 33 straight. For her career, Sweat has scored in double figures in 72 of the 99 career games she has played, including 30 of 33 during the 2008-09 season. She has made 79 consecutive starts and has made 85 starts in the 99 games she has played in a K-State uniform.