K-State to Race Tulsa, UCO in Tulsa Triangular Saturday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State women's rowing team continues to build for their showcase races in the Sunflower Showdown and the Big 12 Championships with a trip to Catoosa, Oklahoma on Saturday, April 10 to compete in the Tulsa Triangular at the J. Bird Sr. Shell Nest on the Verdigris River.

K-State will compete against host Tulsa and Central Oklahoma beginning with the Second Varsity Four race at 9:30 a.m., CT on Saturday morning. It will be followed by the Varsity Four race at 9:50 a.m., CT, the Second Varsity Eight race at 10:10 a.m., CT and concludes with the Varsity Eight race at 10:30 a.m., CT. Fans can follow live updates on @KStateROW throughout the day.

"This weekend is a great opportunity for the team," said head coach Pat Sweeney. "We are looking forward to more water time and a chance to compete against strong competition. Racing against multiple crews helps us as we make the last push toward Big 12s."

The Wildcats will face stiff competition in the Tulsa Triangular, as the Golden Hurricane are currently receiving votes (17) in the latest Pocock CRCA Top 20 poll, while the UCO Bronchos are among the best teams in Division II, placing No. 1 in the latest West Region rankings.

Tulsa collected 12 total top-3 finishes over two days at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational April 3-4 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee against a field that included No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 16 Alabama, Minnesota, Tennessee, Clemson and Notre Dame. UCO opened the 2021 season on March 27 in Seattle with wins over Seattle Pacific and Western Washington.

The Tulsa Triangular will be K-State's third race of the season – all in three consecutive weeks – following the Creighton Duels on March 27 and the Sunshine State Invitational on April 2-3, as the Wildcats continue to train for their two biggest races of the season – the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday, May 1 and the Big 12 Championships on Sunday, May 16.

"Racing three weekends in a row has been a great learning experience," said Sweeney. "We've been able to make changes and reevaluate after each competition. The team has made it through the first part of the season, and they have kept their focus strong. Everything we do now is the final push to help set us up for the remainder of the season."

K-State continued the progress made from its impressive start to the season at the Creighton Duels, in which, they won every race in convincing fashion, with a solid performance at the Sunshine State Invitational last weekend at the Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.

The Varsity Four highlighted the solid two-day effort at the Sunshine State Invitational with a bronze medal finish in the Grand Finals on April 3 against a field that included host UCF, Clemson, Jacksonville, Kansas, Miami (Fla.) and Stetson. In the preliminary round on Friday, the team collected third-place finishes from the Varsity Four (1v4+) and Varsity Eight (1v8+) boats.

"Coming off of last weekend, we have rearranged some of the seating within the boats," said Sweeney. "We're ready to look at these combinations and see how we compare against two solid crews."

The Varsity Four was selected as the Big 12 co-Boat of the Week on April 7 after their bronze-medal showing. The crew, which consists of redshirt senior Logan Frost, sophomore Ellie Hahn, sophomore Elizabeth Sloan, sophomore Kate Odgers and sophomore coxswain Kaitlyn Henke, finished in third place behind host UCF and Clemson with a time of 8:56.43. K-State was one of only three boats to record times less than 9 minutes in the race, as the Wildcats outdistanced fourth-place Kansas by more than 23 seconds.

It marked the fifth time K-State has had a crew earn Boat of the Week honors from the Big 12 and the first since the First Varsity Eight notched a gold-medal performance at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta (SIRAs) in April 2017.

A full recap of Saturday's race will be made available on kstatesports.com following the scrimmage.

K-State to Race Tulsa, UCO in Tulsa Triangular Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Logan Frost

Ellie Hahn

Kaitlyn Henke

Kate Odgers

Elizabeth Sloan

Kansas State University Athletics