Kansas Rowing Competes at Sunshine State Invitational

SARASOTA, Fla. – Kansas Rowing had five boats advance to the final stages of the Sunshine State Invitational, which took place on March 29-30 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida. 

Kansas started the event with a win, as the 2v4 boat won their heat to advance to the grand final on Saturday. Other boats to qualify for the grand final were the 2v8 and the 3v8 boats. The 1v8 and the 1v4 boats also qualified for the Saturday petite final.

“We were able to prove to ourselves what we are capable of, especially following a strong spring training,” senior Mara Evans said. “I was especially impressed with the freshmen, coming to a large regatta for their first 2k, against teams who have much more experience.”

Kansas finished tied for eighth out of 16 teams who competed in the invitational. KU totaled 81 points in the event, tying with host school Jacksonville, and beating out several teams, most notably Kansas State, West Virginia, and Louisville. 

“It was great to qualify multiple boats into the grand finals this year,” Kansas Head Coach Carrie Cook-Callen said. “The even better part was seeing the changes crews made from Friday’s heats to Saturday’s finals. Our best racing is coming and we’ll work over the next two weeks of training to showcase that in our first spring home race.”

Kansas is back on the water on April 13th, as the Jayhawks will host Iowa and Minnesota in the Kansas Double Dual at Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kansas. Race times are TBA.