Jayhawks Slip By Wildcats for Kansas Cup, 12-10

First Varsity Eight Boat Clinches Victory for KU

Kansas rowing's nine seniors celebrated with the Kansas Cup in their final home regatta.

April 7, 2007

LAWRENCE, Kan. -

The Kansas rowing team's First Varsity Eight boat came from behind to defeat Kansas State by inches in the final race to lift the Jayhawks to the 2007 Kansas Cup Saturday at Burcham Park. With the 12-10 victory over their Sunflower State rivals, the Jayhawks competed in their last home race of the season and honored nine seniors in their final Kansas River regatta.

The Novice Four `A' boat of Jenny Leuck, Kaitlin Squier, Britany Strohl, Kelly Miller and Lindsey Warren picked up KU's first point of the day with a time of 6:59.7. The Wildcats would win the next two races, the First Novice Eight and Second Varsity Eight, to take a 10-1 lead and need just one more victory for the cup.

The Jayhawks' Varsity Four `B' boat of Catlin Curtis, Brooke Castrop, Hailee Jones, Kahheetah Barnoskie and Callie Owen held off K-State in the next race, posting a time of 5:46.5 to the Wildcats' 5:54.9.

The Kansas Cup came down to the final race of the day, the First Varsity Eight. The Wildcats led for most of the race, but the Jayhawks made a late push to take the lead just before the finish line, winning by just over a second. The winning boat of Samira Naji, Lindsey Miles, Jelayna Da Silva, Tiffany Jeffers, Kara Boston, Carrie Selden, LlynnAnn Laugesen, Elisheva Patterson and Tricia Sawtelle captured eight points in the race and the KU victory.

"We never let up and just kept going even though we were behind," Da Silva, a senior, said. "We made a move in the third 500 and were able to move ahead at the finish. It was an awesome feeling."

"This is always a tight race with K-State and it seems to go back and forth each year," head KU rowing coach Rob Catloth said after the regatta. "It came down to the Varsity Eight and we raced how we planned. It showed that we have a pretty experienced First Eight with a few seniors, which was able to come through. We had a really strong finish in the third 500, which is very important in this sport, and were able to sprint and put it away."

KU is next in action Saturday, April 14 at the Knecht Cup in Camden, N.J.

Saturday Results

Novice Four
1. Kansas `A' 6:59.7 = one point
2. Kansas State 7:05.6
3. Kansas `B' 7:20.2

First Novice Eight
1. Kansas State 5:09.0 = five points
2. Kansas 5:18.8

Second Varsity Eight
1. Kansas State 5:52.1 = five points
2. Kansas 6:02.8

Varsity Four
1. Kansas `B' 5:46.5 = three points
2. Kansas State 5:54.9
3. Kansas `A' 6:03.1

First Varsity Eight
1. Kansas 5:50.86 = eight points*
2. Kansas State 5:52.06

*KU clinched Kansas Cup

-KU-