Kansas Rowing to Open Season at the Head of the Oklahoma Saturday

Oct. 7, 2010

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Kansas rowing will begin its fall season Saturday, Oct. 9 when it competes in the Head of the Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, Okla. The two-day regatta, hosted by Oklahoma City University as part of the Oklahoma Regatta Festival, will feature teams from across the country, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Cal Berkeley, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa.

This year’s Kansas rowing squad features 69 rowers, including 16 seniors. Kansas will enter three teams in the Collegiate 8+, four teams in the Collegiate 4+ and three teams in the Open 4+ among others. Kansas head rowing coach Rob Catloth said the first race would be a good measuring stick for how the team is progressing.

“We’re going to get a lot of miles in. These races are like long-distance scrimmages. We want to see where everybody’s fitness is and how everybody does in a race situation,” said Catloth. “Our basic goal is to apply some technical things we’ve been working on in practice. Hopefully by the time we get to spring we’ll have the improvement and experience we need to be the best racers we can be.”

Following the Head of the Oklahoma, the rowing team will have a weekend off before facing Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., in the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday, Oct. 23.