MANHATTAN, Kan. – Coming off a productive spring camp which provided more much needed water time, the Kansas State women’s rowing team is set for the program’s first trip to Florida when it heads to Sarasota, Florida, to race in the inaugural Sunshine State Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
“This race is going to be interesting for a couple of different reasons,” head coach Patrick Sweeney said about the first time the Wildcats will venture to the Sunshine State since the program became a varsity sport in 1996-97. “One, we are going up against Tulsa, so we will be able to see if there is a difference from what we did last week. The other is how do we compare with some of the other school’s that will be at the race, such as Alabama, Miami and UCF. The meet will provide us some variety, more than anything else. It will be nice to not be racing against the same teams over-and-over. It will be fun.”
K-State raced Tulsa to open its spring slate two weeks ago. At that race, the team’s 2V8 and 3V8 each recorded first-place finishes, with times of 6:54.80 and 7:07.31, respectively, while the 1V8, 1V4 and 2V4 each finished runner-up in their respective races.
The team then stayed in Tulsa for the remainder of the week to participate in its spring camp, which provided Sweeney the opportunity to assess where his team is at heading into the meat of the racing season.
“It was a very good camp,” Sweeney said. “It is always a stressful time for the athletes because it is coming into their selections — who is going in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth boat — but they handled it really well. I am really pleased with the amount of work they did and how they came out of it at the end. They are in good shape.”
Friday’s action is slated to begin at 2:20 p.m., CT, with Second Varsity 4 race, while Saturday’s action will begin at 7 a.m., CT, First Varsity 8 race. A complete schedule of events can be found here.
For the latest on K-State women’s rowing, follow @kstatesports and @KStateROW on Twitter using the hashtag #KStateROW or on the team’s Facebook page.
Josh Brunner
Graduate Assistant | Athletics Communications