SARASOTA, Fla. – The Kansas rowing team secured a second-place finish at the Big 12 Championship on Sunday morning at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. The Jayhawks scored 61 points and placed in the top three in all respective race to set a program best standing at the conference regatta.
KU also set a program record with five student-athletes named All-Big 12 honorees following the race.
“I am just really proud of this squad and excited about the future,” Kansas coach Andrew Derrick after leading the Jayhawks to their best program finish in his inaugural season. “We have made a ton of progress this year and know there is more to come with more hard work, which the team is excited to tackle. It will be hard to say goodbye to the seniors, they are awesome, but we know they laid a great foundation to build on next year and beyond. I can’t wait to see what we can do next season if we show up ready to build on this year.”
Starting off the competition strong was the III Eight (freshmen coxswain Samantha Ronen, Suyin Howard, and Ashley Herbert, sophomores Morgan Tenpenny and Audrey Crowson, and junior Andronika Dyer, as well as seniors Lauren Burright, Catherine Bachovchin, and Martina Zbiralova) landing in second behind No. 11 UCF with a time of 6:47.058. Next, the II Four comprised of junior coxswain Kaylee Chism, freshmen Naida Paschal and Hollis Andreen, sophomore Isabel Smikahl, with senior Abigail Steffen posted a time of 7:32.848 to claim runner up and edging out West Virgina by a little over a second.
Sophomores Emerson Linthicum, Grace Bailey, junior Alexandra Robinson, with senior Rory Brennan made up the I Four crew and crossed the finish line at 7:24.338 to claim an additional second-place finish, beating Kansas State by over two seconds.
The Jayhawks landed their fourth runner-up finish of the day with the II Eight (sophomore coxswain Kyra Kavouridis, freshmen Kenzington Rector and Isabella Rossato, juniors Tya Drennen, Eva Robinson, Gretchen Schmeirer-Knust, Kathryn Borthwick, Sofia D’Ascenzo, and senior Anastasiia Draha) clocking a 6:42.588 time.
Competing as the I Eight were graduate students Ruby Moritz-Cammack (coxswain) and Lindsey True, freshmen Claire Van Mater and Katariina Peipman, sophomore Kaylie Hellner, juniors Sophie Pense, Gracie Shepherd, as well as seniors Kara Lyons and Aylin Schafer locking in a time of 6:38.528 to earn third and complete the finale race at the Big 12 Championship.
After racing was completed, I Eight crew members Shepherd, Moritz-Cammack, Van Mater, Lyons, and Pense were awarded All-Big 12 for their accomplishments at the championship, the most in the history of Kansas’ rowing program.
FINAL RESULTS
UCF – 81
Kansas – 61
Tulsa – 53
West Virginia – 36
Old Dominion – 26
Kansas State – 20
Courtesy of KU Athletics