RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.33 (Rowing)

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This one’s for the seniors!

A post shared by Kansas Rowing (@kansasrowing) on May 2, 2018 at 2:32pm PDT

 

Having fun at the K Ring ceremony! #KUrowing pic.twitter.com/OyYCk8SVme

— Kansas Rowing (@KU_Rowing) April 30, 2018

As another season comes to an end, nine seniors will compete as Jayhawks for the last time this weekend at the 2018 Big 12 Championship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. KU’s nine graduating seniors include: Angie Allen, Bailey Coolidge, BriAnna Dittberner, Ally Fullerton, Meghan Karoly, Keaton Poppe, Kaelyn Thierolf, Madison Wedderspoon and Margret Winter.   
 
Angie Allen has not only seen success on the water, but also in the classroom and around campus, having been on the Academic All-Big 12 team since her freshman year and serving as the Big 12 Chair of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the past year. Allen helped KU’s Second Varsity Eight to a fifth-place finish (6:52.598) in the Grand Final at the 2017 Big 12 Championship. 
 
KU’s First Varsity Eight’s coxswain, Bailey Coolidge, led Wave the Wheat to a first-place finish in the Grand Final over George Washington and Delaware at the George Mason Invitational on April 22. Coolidge and the First Varsity Eight also topped in-state rival Kansas State at the annual Dillons Sunflower Showdown with a time of 6:21.7. Coolidge has been a member of the Academic All-Big 12 team since her freshman year.
 
Brianna Dittberner was a member of the Second Varsity Eight and helped Ad Astra advance to the grand finals at the Knecht Cup, in which KU finished seventh. The Second Varsity Eight also brought home the bronze medal at the George Mason Invitational after out-racing West Virginia in the preliminary heat to advance to the Grand Final.
 
New Zealand native Ally Fullerton and the Second Varsity Four knocked off Tennessee with a first-place finish during KU’s first home regatta of the season: the Big 12 Double Dual. Fullerton helped the First Varsity Four, Wakarusa, advance to the Grand Final after placing first in the preliminary heat at the GMU Invite and brought home the bronze in the finals.  
 
Meghan Karoly has been a part of the First Varsity Eight for the last two seasons. Karoly helped Wave the Wheat to one of its fastest times in program history unassisted by current or flow with a first-place time of 6:25 in the Grand Final at the GMU Invite, which earned the Jayhawks Big 12 Boat of the Week honors. Karoly was also awarded the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, the Big 12 Conference’s highest academic honor.
 
Keaton Poppe and KU’s Second Varsity Eight advanced to the Grand Final after finishing second in its preliminary heat at the Knecht Cup. Ad Astra finished seventh among the Second Varsity Eight’s that weekend in New Jersey. Poppe helped lead Ad Astra to a third-place finish with a time of 6:47.7 at the GMU Invite.
 
In her third year with the First Varsity Eight, Kaelyn Thierolf is looking to take Wave the Wheat to the Grand Finals of the Big 12 Championship for the second year in a row. Thierolf and the First Varsity Eight have continued to get faster as the season has gone on and that progress showed with its 6:25 time at the GMU Invite.  Thierolf has been on the Academic All-Big 12 team since her freshman year and is also a recipient of the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement award.
 
Madison Wedderspoon and the Third Varsity Eight advanced to the finals at the Knecht Cup after placing third in its preliminary heat. The Quite Beast brought home the silver medal with a time of 6:52.7 in the Grand Final at the GMU Invite.
 
Margret Winter has been a member of the First Varsity Eight for the last two years and will look to capitalize off of Wave the Wheat’s two first-place finishes and Boat of the Week honor during the Big 12 Championship. Winter is a two time Academic All-Big 12 team member.   
 
Catch the seniors and the rest of the Jayhawks in action this weekend at the 2018 Big 12 Championship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Melton Hill Lake, May 12-13.