Top-10 Boats Lead Kansas at Head of the Hooch
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – After day one of the 2014 Head of the Hooch was cancelled due to inclement weather, the Kansas Rowing team made the best of the situation by racing as many boats as possible during Sunday’s finale.
“Handling the weather is part of outdoor sports and we have to work with that,” said Kansas head coach Rob Catloth. “Our older athletes kind of showed the younger ones how to handle it and we stayed focused. It’s just part of the job.”
Kansas began the day with two top-10 finishes in the Women’s Open 2-. Sophomore Maddie Irelan and junior Maggie Duncan placed fifth with a time of 19:25.5, while seniors Claudijah Lever and Brooke Thuston claimed ninth when they crossed the finish with a time of 19:53.4. Kansas also had boats place 12th, 13th and 14th in the event.
“I thought we did a great job in this race,” stated Catloth. “Really our fifth-place boat was fourth (among the) collegiate boats. The top one was a U.S. National Team boat. I thought as a whole we did pretty well.”
Next for the Jayhawks was the Women’s Open 8+ challenge, which featured 31 boats overall. Led by seniors Erin Brogan and Julia Alvey, Kansas worked its way to a 12th-place finish with a time of 17:08.0. Others on the boat included juniors Mary Slattery, Casey Kelly and Jackie Adamle, sophomores Olivia Loney, Katherine Young, Emily Ruble and Jordan Helms. Other Kansas boats in the event placed 16th, 17th and 24th, respectively.
The trip was the first for many of the Jayhawk rowers competing on the novice teams. Due to the inclement weather on Saturday, some of the novice rowers were worked into the more experienced boats. Catloth and his staff adjusted boating lineups to ensure more of their rowers were able to compete in the last official regatta of the fall.
“Unfortunately, not racing yesterday didn’t give us the chance to see how they’re advancing compared to other novice boats,” said Catloth. “Today competing with the eight’s, I thought they did really well and handled it nicely.”
The fall portion of the 2014-15 rowing schedule is now complete as the Jayhawks turn their focus to conditioning and training for the spring season. Kansas will get back on the water with a training trip in January to Tampa Bay, Florida.
Complete Kansas Results
Varsity Eight (A) – 17:08.0
Mary Slattery – Coxswain
Julia Alvey
Erin Brogan
Olivia Loney
Katherine Young
Jackie Adamle
Emily Ruble
Jordan Helms
Casey Kelly
Varsity Eight (B) – 17:31.1
Sarah Lasini– Coxswain
Brittney Railsback
Madison Hovis
Alexa Fowlkes
Kylee Dewey
Kate Cropp
Danielle Gibson
Kristen Byrd
Bailey Brandon
Varsity Eight (C) – 17:32.6
Bailey Coolidge – Coxswain
Margaret Hornick
BriAnna Dittberner
Ally Fullerton
Margret Winter
Kaelyn Thierolf
Angie Allen
Mackenzie Klaver
Tanner Tripp
Varsity Eight (D) – 18:55.3
Madelyn Konrade – Coxswain
Caitlin McNulty
Sydney Staehr
Daisy Tackett
Paige Rothwell
Bailee Eddings
Kristi Hicks
Kailey Tennant
Rachel Nault
2 X 2 (A) – 19:53.4
Claudijah Lever
Brooke Thuston
2 x 2 (B) – 19:25.5
Maggie Duncan
Maddie Irelan
2 x 2 (C) – 20:19.8
Lexie Lanphere
Allie Griffin
2 x 2 (D) – 20:11.7
Tessa Scott
Allison Schaaf
2 x 2 (E) – 20:02.9
Jennifer Hartzler
Emma O’Neill
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