Kansas Rowing Takes Third at Inaugural Big 12 Rowing Championship
May 2, 2009
Kansas City, Kan.—Sitting in second place most of the day, Kansas rowing was unable to overcome a restart in the First Varsity Eight race and finished third in the inaugural Big 12 Rowing Championship at Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday. Texas won the event while Kansas state placed second; Oklahoma was not included in the scoring because they did not field a varsity team.
Going into the First Varsity Eight race, Texas led with 27 points three points ahead of Kansas and six points ahead of Kansas State. The officials stopped the race just past the 500 meter mark because of wake from one of the motorized observation boats crossing the racers’ path.
“It’s pretty rare,” said head coach Rob Catloth of the stopped First Varsity Eight Race. “Sometimes you get a strange call in football or basketball, but in rowing you stop the race.”
Kansas State won the restarted race with at time of 6:44.4. Texas was second with a time of 6:53.8, and third place Kansas finished with a time of 7:05.3. Kansas State’s victory moved them into second place and dropped Kansas to third.
“I have been in a called back start before,” said senior Emily Martin a member of the First Varsity Eight team. “It’s tough for all of the teams. We really let it affect us a lot more than the other teams did. We had a really good start in the first race. When we came back for the second start we didn’t put it together like we did the first time.”
In the Second Varsity Eight race Kansas stayed close to Texas, but was unable to pull ahead of the Longhorns and crossed the finish line with a time of 6:56.5.
“We made a little push in the middle, a little past halfway, and that kind of closed the gap between us,” said coxswain of the Second Varsity Eight boat Lexie Peterson. “In our sprint we tried to gain as much back as we could.
Oklahoma won the Varsity Four race, but Kansas finished second and earned first place points.
“We’ve done a lot of work this whole season to try to get here,” said senior Kristin Decker, a member of the Varsity Four team.
Texas won the first Big 12 Rowing Championship, but the recognition of the conference meant a lot to all of the teams.
“In any sport to have a Big 12 championship and to be official is a big deal,” said Catloth. “We’ve had a program here for 14 seasons. We’ve been over a decade here on our own and waiting for the fourth team to come in and try to petition to try to be an official Big 12 championship.”
Kansas continues the season as the team travels to Oak Ridge, Tenn., on Saturday, May 16 to take part in the South-Central Regionals.
Results
Second Novice Eight
1. Texas 7:07.8 3 pts
2. Oklahoma 7:21.3
3. Kansas 7:36.6 2 pts
4. Kansas State 7:42.5 1 pt
First Novice Eight
1. Oklahoma 6:51.4
2. Kansas State 6:57.6 5 pts
3. Texas 6:59.3 4 pts
4. Kansas 7:09.7 3 pts
Varsity Four
1. Oklahoma 7:24.6
2. Kansas 7:36.4 7 pts
3. Texas 7:41.2 6 pts
4. Kansas State 7:41.6 5 pts
Second Varsity Eight
1. Texas 6:50.2 14 pts
2. Kansas 6:56.5 12 pts
3. Kansas State 7:22.0 10 pts
First Varsity Eight
1. Kansas State 6:44.4 27 pts
2. Texas 6:53.8 24 pts
3. Kansas 7:05.3 21 pts
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Texas 51 Points
2. Kansas State 48 Points
3. Kansas 45 Points
