🛶 Kansas Rowing Distributes End-of-Season Awards
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Head coach Carrie Cook-Callen and the 2021 rowing team announced their 2020-21 team awards, honoring nine individuals across various categories.
There was a total of eight awards given out – Oarswoman of the Year, Coxswain of the Year, Outstanding Freshman, Outstanding Newcomer, Most Improved Oarswoman, Most Improved Novice/Freshman, Essence of a Jayhawk and the Class of 2020 Award.
The two major awards given out on the evening were Oarswoman of the Year and Coxswain of the Year. The recipients of said awards were Laurel Salisbury and Emma Yowell, respectively. This duo will be forever enshrined on the award winners wall in the Kansas Boathouse for their consistent growth and competitive excellence.
The Outstanding Freshman award was earned by Paige Wheeler. Paige was a recruited and experienced high school rower and has made contributions to the top-2 boats of the Kansas program in her first year as a Jayhawk.
Arianna McCue earned the honor of being named Most Improved Newcomer. This recognition isn’t necessarily awarded every year but is utilized when someone, who isn’t a true freshman, is deserving of the honor. The award goes to a student-athlete who started rowing as a sophomore.
The Most Improved Oarswoman went to sophomore and Muskego, Wisconsin native, Savanah Skack. The Most Improved Novice / Freshman is an award that was presented to two individuals this year, Cameron Boyd and Courtney Costain. Neither student-athlete rowed before coming to Kansas, Courtney was a recruited non-experienced rower and Cameron made the team as a walk-on through tryouts. Both had different journeys but made big improvements over the course of the year.
The Essence of a Jayhawk was given to Kinsey Hagedorn. This honor is given by the seniors each year and goes to a rower that exhibits the qualities of a Jayhawk, being a good teammate and a positive individual that works hard.
Anna Van Driel was tabbed with The Class of 2020 award, a new award this year to recognize the efforts of the women who graduated in 2020. The honor is meant to recognize someone who has persevered through various obstacles such as injuries, change, etc. and left the program better than they found it through consistently showing up and putting in the work. The class of 2020 exhibited this enduring quality over the course of their four years and even when the pandemic shut down athletic competition, they continued to show up, contribute and work to move the program forward.
Last week all of the Jayhawks that earned a letter during the 2020-21 academic year received their letterman’s gift. The first-year letterwinners at the ceremony received their letterman jackets, second-years got their K blankets, third-years were given their K watch and the seniors were given their K rings.
