Murray State University Athletics
Rowing Enjoys Success During Spring Trip
3/26/2008 5:00:00 AM
The Murray State rowing team enjoyed success on its recent spring trip to Natchitoches, La. as the Racers came away victorious in six of the seven competitive races.
"It was a great opportunity to get in as much racing as we did" said head coach Bill McLean. "We were able to get our bench mark 2k in and then go out and extensively capture a variety of racing situations."
"Winning is always enjoyable but we must keep perspective in that all but one race was rowed over 1,250 meters."
The Racers opened up competition against Washington University (St. Louis) on March 15. The race was not timed and the teams rowed in mixed lineups. The MSU A team crossed the finish line first, followed by the B team and then the boat from WU.
"The race against Washington at the out set of the training week allowed the women to take stock of what the areas of improvement were and focus on them during the week," said McLean. "It made for a productive training session."
MSU returned to competitive racing on March 20 as they competed in two different competitions. In the first event, the Racers took on Wichita State and Kansas. The team returned to the water later in the day to compete against Northwestern State, Wichita State and Kansas.
In the 2,000-meter varsity eight race, MSU posted a time of 7:30.4 and beat its nearest competitor by just under 21 seconds. That nearest competitor happened to be the Racers second boat. The winning boat was led by coxswain Sarah Eckler and consisted of Anna Brown, Karen Delaney, Lyndsey Staples, Stephanie Kozuszek, Connie Gorman, Andria Kroner, Kari Weisenfeld and Hannah Neely. The Racers second boat was led by coxswain Coleen Rice and consisted of Christine Cervenka Kelly Anderson, Kelly Boyer, Jessica Stamper, Katelyn Halicks, Carola Hechtel, Leigh Erin Waddell and Linsday Hopkins.
In varsity four action, the Racers A boat captured the race in a time of 5:13.0 and was followed in second by the B boat at 5:40.69. Wichita State (5:43.89) finished third and Kansas (5:45.01) fourth. The A boat was coxswained by Eckler and consisted of Brown, Delaney, Staples and Kozuszek. The B boat had Kroner, Weisenfeld, Boyer and Neely with Rice as the coxswain.
The Racers also captured the victory in the novice eight race in a time of 5:03.66, defeating Kansas (5:09.51) and Wichita State (5:10.0). Rice was the coxswain of the boat and was joined by Cervenka, Gorman, Halicks, Hechtel, Waddell, Hopkins, Ellen Meranda and Layne Hardison.
MSU returned to the water early in the evening for their second event of the day and the results were still the same. In the varsity eight race, MSU defeated WSU by 14 seconds and finished with a time of 4:54. The novice four boat captured their race in the slimmest of margins, defeating KU by 0.01. The boat consisted of Katelyn Campbell (coxswain), Waddell, Hopkins, Halicks and Hardison. The varsity four C boat, consisting of Campbell (coxswain), Rice, Anderson, Boyer and Stamper placed second behind host NSU in the final race.
The rowing team returns to the water on April 5 for the John Hunter Regatta in Oak Ridge, Tenn. MSU will host Alabama on April 12 at Kenlake State Park.
