Kansas Falls to OU to Conclude Oklahoma Invite

March 10, 2013

LAWRENCE, Kan. – A day after tallying four-consecutive wins over Kansas State, the Kansas Rowing team closed the Oklahoma Invite on Sunday by falling to the host squad from the University of Oklahoma. The Sooners swept all six races.

The dual began with novice races that went down to the wire. Oklahoma won the Second Novice Eight by less than a second and the First Novice Eight by less than two seconds. The Varsity Four races were competitive as well with Oklahoma winning the 2V4 by less than six seconds and the 1V4 by less than eight seconds.

“With our novice we had good races and just got nipped at the finish,” said KU head coach Rob Catloth. “The times our fours ran all weekend were in the ballpark of where they need to be.”

The dual concluded with Oklahoma winning both the Second Varsity Eight and First Varsity Eight.

“We just need to get faster with our 1V8 and 2V8,” said Catloth. “They have quite a bit of extra water time that we don’t have right now. Our novice and our fours were right there. Our eights need to get closer to them. They are way ahead of us on boat selection and seeing who their best people are.”

Kansas next travels to Oak Ridge, Tenn. for the Louisville Invite on March 16-17.

“We’ve got to get some boat selection in and figure out who the fastest people are,” said Catloth. “That is going to be a focus. They are going to be challenged and they are going to have to earn their spot in a boat.”

The Jayhawks will stay in Oak Ridge over Spring Break to get extra practice. Oak Ridge is the site of this year’s Conference USA Championships, which Kansas participates in for rowing. The winner of the Conference USA title earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship in Indianapolis.

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