K-State Falls to Kansas in Sunflower Showdown Saturday

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The win streak by the Kansas State women's rowing team in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown came to an end on Saturday morning, as Kansas collected wins in both Varsity Eight races at Wyandotte County Lake to earn the rivalry trophy back for the first time since 2017.

Due to how the races are weighed, the Jayhawks won the Sunflower Showdown, 15-5, on the strength of its victories in the First Varsity Eight (9 points) and Second Varsity Eight (6 points), as the First Varsity Four (3 points) and Second Varsity Four (2 points) counted for the remaining 5 points.

In the first head-to-head meeting in the Sunflower Showdown since 2019, Kansas jumped out to wins in the first two races of the day – the First Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight – before the Wildcats earned points in each of the Varsity Four races, including a dominant performance in the First Varsity Four by nearly 17 seconds.

Despite the loss, K-State has still won the Sunflower Showdown six times in the last 10 years, including a 22-0 sweep in 2019 – a first in the rivalry since 2012.

"Today, I think was really a mixed bag," said head coach Pat Sweeney. "We've had strong training with our young team, but our weakness today was that we had too many technical errors. The 1v8 didn't hear the start and got dropped by a half a length and it stayed that way until the finish.

"We were physically really doing well, but they got to learn better technique so to not make mistakes when they're racing. They really beat themselves by just making mistakes and we can't afford to do that."

Putting the Wildcats' youth in perspective, 23 of 28 athletes competing in the Sunflower Showdown were underclassmen, including 14 who are either redshirt or true freshmen.

The First Varsity Four, which consists of redshirt senior Logan Frost, sophomores Ellie Hahn, Elizabeth Sloan and Kate Odgers as well as sophomore coxswain Kaitlyn Henke, continued an already strong season with an impressive effort, posting a time of 8:22.4 to easily defeat the Jayhawks (8:39.0).

The boat placed first at both the Creighton Duels and Tulsa Triangular, while they earned Big 12 co-Boat of the Week in early April after a bronze-medal performance in the Grand Finals of the Varsity Four at the Sunshine State Invitational on April 3 in Sarasota, Florida.

For redshirt senior Logan Frost, one of the keys to Saturday's victory in the First Varsity Four came from their added emphasis in training on getting off to better starts in races.

"We've been really practicing our starts," said Frost. "We've always been a team that wins in the middle of the race, but we wanted to win from the start. We wanted to be ahead from the start, so this race was just to copy and paste from what we've been doing at practice. We got those first five strokes, and we were ahead – just that inch ahead – and tore into more. We did that the whole race and then by the end, it was water. It was a full length of water, so it was a really good race."

Sophomore coxswain Kaitlyn Henke said the team has been training towards the Sunflower Showdown and the work they put in really paid off in the decisive victory.

"We were all pumped for the Sunflower Showdown," said Henke. "We've been waiting for this. As Logan (Frost) said we took it off really hard from the start. The wind hit us a bit but we cleaned it up at the end and that's what we've been wanting to work on. I'm so proud of this boat. We're happy to perform well."

One of the team's younger boats – the Second Varsity Four – also continued to build on its solid performances so far this season by earning a time of 9:01 to defeat Kansas (9:07) by 6 seconds. It was the boat's second straight victory after winning by more than 20 and 30 seconds, respectively, at the Tulsa Triangular on April 10. The boat included redshirt freshmen Lindsey Devreugd, Lisa Zuiderveen, Alyssa Pemberton and Alyssa Buettner and redshirt sophomore coxswain Kylee Stec.

The Second Varsity Eight, which included redshirt freshman Lauren Walker, redshirt junior Megan Kelly, redshirt senior Natasha Johnson, freshmen Ashley Cass and Patricia Hokanson, redshirt freshman Jessica Schenk and freshmen Jayden Wert and Kaylee Kleinschmit as well as redshirt freshman coxswain Kelsey Ladlie, placed second behind host Kansas.

Redshirt junior Megan Kelly said despite finishing behind Kansas that the boat continues to make progress.

"I think the race went really well," said Kelly. "It's probably one of our better races that we've done. The start was a little iffy, but we came back and we were holding with KU for quite a bit. It felt good, the ratio was good. The wind was a little crappy, but other than that, everything was good. Our bow is pretty young, but I think we've made a lot of improvements and we finished really well."

The First Varsity Eight opened the day with a time of 7:16.4 to finish behind Kansas. The boat included junior Marissa Rodriguez, redshirt junior Taylor Hartman, sophomore Elizabeth Mummert, sophomore Megan Michaelis, redshirt sophomore Maya Morrow, redshirt sophomore Madison Jensen, redshirt freshman Idallis Shaffer and freshman Jadyn Greisen and redshirt freshman coxswain Lauren Plum.

K-State will conclude the 2020-21 campaign in two weeks with the annual Big 12 Championships on Sunday, May 16 at Decker Lake in Austin, Texas. The Wildcats recorded a pair of medal performances from the First Varsity Four and Second Varsity Eight en route to earning 91 points and placing third as a team in 2019.

Saturday's Race Results (Sunflower Showdown)

First Varsity Eight (1v8+) – worth 9 points
1. Kansas – 7:12.6
2. K-State – 7:16.4

Second Varsity Eight (2v8+) – worth 6 points
1. Kansas – 7:33.27
2. K-State – NTT

First Varsity Four (1v4+) - worth 3 points
1. K-State – 8:22.4
2. Kansas – 8:39.0

Second Varsity Four (2v4+) – worth 2 points
1. K-State – 9:01
2. Kansas – 9:07

K-State Lineups:
First Varsity Eight (7:16.4)
Cox: Lauren Plum, Stroke: Maria Rodriguez, 7. Taylor Hartman, 6. Elizabeth Mummert, 5. Megan Michaelis, 4. Maya Morrow, 3. Madison Jensen, 2. Idallis Shaffer, Bow: Jadyn Greisen.

Second Varsity Eight (NTT)
Cox: Kelsey Ladlie, Stroke: Lauren Walker, 7. Megan Kelly, 6. Natasha Johnson, 5. Ashley Cass, 4. Patricia Hokanson, 3. Jessica Schenk, 2. Jayden Wert, Bow: Kaylee Kleinschmit.

First Varsity Four (8:22.4)
Cox: Kaitlyn Henke, Stroke: Logan Frost, 3. Ellie Hahn, 2. Elizabeth Sloan, Bow: Kate Odgers.

Second Varsity Four (9:01)
Cox: Kylee Stec, Stroke: Lindsey Devreugd, 3. Lisa Zuiderveen, 2. Alyssa Pemberton, Bow: Alyssa Buettner.

Kansas State University Athletics

K-State Falls to Kansas in Sunflower Showdown Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Alyssa Buettner

Ashley Cass

Logan Frost

Jadyn Greisen

Ellie Hahn

Taylor Hartman

Kaitlyn Henke

Patricia Hokanson

Madison Jensen

Natasha Johnson

Megan Kelly

Kaylee Kleinschmit

Kelsey Ladlie

Megan Michaelis

Maya Morrow

Elizabeth Mummert

Kate Odgers

Alyssa Pemberton

Lauren Plum

Jessica Schenk

Idallis Shaffer

Elizabeth Sloan

Kylee Stec

Lauren Walker

Jayden Wert

Lisa Zuiderveen