Kansas kicks off spring season in Tulsa
CATOOSA, Okla. – Kansas rowing started the spring season with its first scrimmage of 2018 against Tulsa on the Verdigris River in Catoosa, Oklahoma this past weekend.
The Jayhawks competed in over ten races with the majority of the Varsity Fours racing on Friday afternoon and the Varsity Eights racing on Saturday morning with a staggered start time format. The competition gave Kansas two full days of preparation for the upcoming season, which starts in April.
The scrimmage versus the Golden Hurricane provided the first competition environment Kansas has seen this spring. The Jayhawks raced three Varsity Eight boats and six Varsity Four boats, giving many on the roster a chance to compete against another squad for the first time in the new year.
Having only been able to practice a few times on the water since winter training in Tampa, Florida, the two day stretch of competition started the spring season off in the right direction for the Jayhawks.
“We have a lot of speed left to uncover and that’s encouraging knowing how much there is,” interim head coach Carrie Cook-Callen said. “There’s an eagerness to get to that point where we are back to rowing at out full potential.”
The first race of the season provided an opportunity to get back in touch with the water and getting the feeling of the boat back rather than the stationary erg. After the first day of racing on Friday, the Jayhawks began to fall back into the same rhythm gained in Tampa earlier this year.
“After racing a few times, we began to have a sense of what racing felt like again,” said Cook-Callen. “We started to figure out how much we have left in the tank while we race and knowing how much we have left to complete a race.”
Up Next
Kansas will be in action next for its final tune up before the season begins against Indiana March 23-24 in Bloomington, Indiana.
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