Kansas Finishes Seventh at Conference USA Championship
May 14, 2011
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Kansas rowing posted two top-five finishes at the Conference USA Championship Saturday, but the Jayhawks finished seventh overall to conclude its 2011 season at MeltonHillLake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Senior Meaghan Oven was honored at the regatta for making the 15-person 2011 C-USA All-Conference Team.
“We’re really excited for Meaghan to make the all-conference team,” said Kansas head coach Rob Catloth. “It’s a great honor and we’re glad she could be part of it.”
Kansas’ best finish of the day came in the Novice Eight race where the Jayhawks took second place with a time of 6:47.87 in the grand final. The Novice Eight race did not count for any points in the scoring system used by Conference USA for the regatta.
“We’re really pleased and proud of how our freshmen did to get second place and be medalists,” said Catloth. “We’re really looking for them to be the future our program. It’s good for them to start out having some success that they can build on through their careers.”
In the Varsity Four race, Kansas qualified for the grand final with a preliminary time of 7:47.27. KU improved its time in the grand final, completing the race in 7:32.84 to finish fifth and earn four points.
In each of the Varsity Eight races, Kansas qualified for the petite final in the preliminary heats, meaning the best they could finish in the finals was seventh. KU defeated SMU in the Second Varsity Eight petite final by more than 25 seconds with a time of 7:02.80 to earn seventh place. In the First Varsity Eight, the Jayhawks claimed seventh again with a time of 6:54.30 in the final.
KU and the three other Big 12 rowing schools – Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas – have joined Conference USA in rowing in anticipation of the NCAA’s introduction of automatic bids to the NCAA Rowing Championship in 2013. A conference must contain at least six teams to be eligible for automatic-qualification to an NCAA championship. The four Big 12 teams, along with Tennessee and Alabama from the Southeastern Conference, are now affiliate members of Conference USA in the sport of rowing, joining C-USA schools Tulsa, SMU and Central Florida.
Alabama did not compete in this year’s Conference USA Championship due to the devastation in the Tuscaloosa, Ala., area from a tornado April 27.
Final Standings
1. Texas – 48
2. Tennessee – 42
3. Oklahoma – 32
4. UCF – 31
5. Tulsa – 26
6. Kansas State – 16
7. Kansas – 14
8. SMU – 7
