Spring 2004 Race Results

S.W.E.A.T.

Spring Break Scrimmage

Sunflower State Rowing Championships

Upper Midwest Rowing Championships

MEN

WOMEN

Knecht Cup

The men's novice 4+ lead the way and the other boats followed. By finishing third of thirty-one crews the men put together a solid regatta. The men's novice 8+ put together their best race for the Petite finals. Weather conditions caused times to be slower but our guys had a heck of a race. Most of the schools we were racing had guys with high school experience, while none of our guys rowed before last semester and many of them started this semester.

The women's crew was set at the beginning of the week. Unfortunately the bow seat tripped on the dock after a practice and had to get stitches. Our first alternate for the boat was unable to fly out with the team, literally at the last minute. This caused us to have to swap a rower. With only one practice under their belt, which was at the regatta, they performed admirably. It would have been very easy to 'pack it in' and make excuses. However, they kept their focus, and with two novices in the boat performed excellent.

Great Plains Rowing Championships

Open 4+ : 2k

Open 8+ Varsity : 2k

Novice 8+ : 400m

Recreational 1x : 2k

Novice 8+: 2k

Master 1x : 1k

Master 1x : 400m

The 2004 Great Plains Rowing Championships displayed a better all around Shocker Rowing Team. Every athlete came home with at least one medal over the two day regatta; some came home with as many as NINE. Overall our team finished 4th of 17 programs. As usual weather played a role at the regatta. High winds caused the afternoon racingon the 2k course to be shortened to 1k s, which were run into a brutal head wind. Our athletes responded admirably.

Thewomen s varsity 4+ showed great improvement by beating a KU team by 1.5 seconds. Also, we almost chased them down in the 8+. The unfortunate race of the day for the women was the finals of the Women s Novice 4+. Coming down to the final 250 meters the race was tight between 3-5 places. Unfortunately, our threeseat caught a boat stopping, gunwale shattering, over the head crab. Once they recovered they were only able to row back through the OCU boat at the finish.

The men had a stellar weekend. The race of the day was the final of the Novice Men s 4+. The guys jumped out to the early lead only to be overtaken by OCU. During the last 250 meters of the race our guys started moving through the OCU crew and literally punched through them on the last stroke of the race. The entire crowd on the shore, no matter which of the seventeen teams they were thereto pull for, was standing and yelling for OCU & WSU. It was a great race for our guys after a tough loss to OCU earlier in the year. OurNovice Men s 8+ also turned the tables on OCU. This one did not leave much in suspense, except for how far ahead of the pack we weregoing to be at the finish. All of the men s shells performed well the entire weekend. We even entered a team of novices in the Open 4+. In the finals 3rd-6th place were all within a length of each other with around 250 meters to go. Unfortunately, as in the WN4+ we had an over the head boat stopper crab. By the time we recovered we were only able to chase down St. Cloud. It is encouraging for our guys when they compete at this level next year as true varsity.

Dad Vail Regatta

Women's Varsity HVWT 4 (2 Advance to 3 Semi-Finals)

Wichita State

Army

Tulsa

Lawrence

George Mason

(2 Advance to Finals)

113

Franklin Pierce

Dowling

North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Brandeis

Wichita State

Kansus U.

Our women had been up and down all year. We changed line-ups and personnel so many times that almost every race this year there was a different line-up. We just plugged in the best we had to offer that week and lined them up where we thought they could do their best and put them out there to race. The only spot that did not change was our coxswain, Lindsay DeSpain. Throughout the entire year she was the foundation and starting point for the team no matter what other changes we made. Her positive attitude and stubborn determination to be successful definitely promoted the coaching staff to feel the same about the boat. We preached all year that if we kept pushing ahead, did not give up or lose faith, that it would come together. It did come together.

Our heat matched us up with some solid teams. Our race could not have started out better with us jumping the entire field easily off the start. However, as our stroke caught a boat stopping over the heat crab, which quickly dropped us to the back of the pack. With only the top two advancing, it would have been easy for our women to pack it in and paddle to the finish. However, they chose to follow the message we preached all year of never giving up and to fight until the last stroke to make something happen. That is exactly what they did. They chased down one crew, then another, and in the last two strokes of the race just edged U. of Tulsa by one tenth of a second. A chase boat official came up to them at the finish and told them it was the best come back he had seen in four years at the Dad Vails.

As with all of the semis the competition is stiff for all lanes. With such a young crew we were just outmatched by Dowling and North Carolina. We had a great race and finished over twenty seconds ahead of Kansas. We were one second from third and rowed about as fast as we think we could, this year.

Men's F/N 4 (2 Advance to 3 Semi-Finals)

47

Lehigh

Wichita State

Seattle Pacific

Penn State

(2 Advance to Finals)

Duquesne

3rd Place
6:52.5

St. Thomas

5th Place
6:55.4

Tenessee UTC

6th Place
7:06.8

Marietta

2nd Place
6:48.4

Temple

1st Place
6:44.3

Wichita State

4th Place
6:54.8

Our heat saw us matched up with a strong Seattle Pacific team. Our guys rowed a solid race and stayed close to SP the entire time to finish second. This advanced us to the Semi s. Our semi stacked us up against the Gold medal Knecht Cup team from Temple. This was a strong semi from top to bottom and our guys were out in lane six by the island. Everyone is fast and there is no room for error or an average performance. Unfortunately, our guys had an average row. They never got in the groove and let the pack slip away from them over the course of the race. Fourth is a solid finish but not the ending we had hoped for. Our guys learned a valuable but tough lesson that day. That no matter what you have done previously, you have to prove it in the here and now.