Tulsa Rowers Shine at Head of Oklahoma Centennial Regatta
10/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Oct. 3, 2004
Tulsa, Oklahoma - The Tulsa women's rowing team turned in a solid performance today at the Head of Oklahoma Centennial Regatta in Oklahoma City on the North Canadian River, which was renamed the Oklahoma City River for this event.
In its second regatta of the fall season, Tulsa rowers turned in a first place finish in the women's rec for the second time in two weeks, and recorded eight, top-5 finishes out of nine total events.
"I am very happy with the way the team rowed today," Head Coach Kevin Harris said. "It's not often was can compete in a regatta of this caliber in the state of Oklahoma. We had good times today while racing against some very good programs. Now we will turn our focus toward the Head of the Charles Regatta in two weeks."
For the second straight week, Tulsa was the top boat on the women's rec, only this time it was with a different rower. Last week at the Head of the Des Moines, senior Megan Novak raced to a first place medal. This week, freshman Becky Jenschke captured first place, and the Hurricane's lone gold medal of the day, with a time of 20:42, which was better than one minute ahead of the second place boat.
"It's nice to see a freshman win in her second career race. Becky has worked very hard in such a short amount of time. We've now won that event two weeks in a row with two different rowers," Harris said.
In the premier event, the women's open 8, TU's `A' boat produced a fifth-place performance in a time of 14:52 and qualified for the 500 meter sprint. In the sprint race, the Hurricane registered a fourth-place finish with a time of 1:49.88, and finished among boats from the University of Texas and University of Virginia, which are two nationally recognized programs.
"The varsity-8 finish is a very big deal for our program because we were able to go head-to-head with both Texas and Virginia," Harris said.
The Golden Hurricane novices turned in a pair of third-place performances in their two races. In the women's novice 4, TU finished third among 12 boats with a time of 18:13 and also finished third among seven boats in the women's novice 8 race in a time of 17:07.
"I thought both of our novice boats did a good job today," novice coach Rosemary Tran said. "They are getting better and better with each race, especially with the fact the crews have only been training on the water for a month. I'm very proud of their efforts. It was a very good day for them. Now, we have a few weeks off, so we will be able to work on some of the smaller details."
In the final event of the regatta, Tulsa's `A' boat, which consists of upperclassmen, finished second overall and ahead of the TU `B' boat, which is manned by freshmen. TU's 'C' boat was seventh with a time of 16:41.
"The upperclassmen got a little bit of revenge on the freshmen today. The first two boats were just two-seconds apart, and the third wasn't far behind. I believe that is a testament to the team growing up and maturing, which makes me happy as a coach," Harris said.
Results- Women's Open 2x (15 boats) 1. Kansas 16:42 2. Texas `A' 16:56 3. Virginia 17:14 4. Dallas RC 17:30 5. Tulsa `A' 17:32 15. Tulsa `B' 19:34Women's Open 1x (15 boats) 1. Texas 17:13 2. Texas 17:41 3. Dallas RC 17:52 9. Tulsa 19:19 11. Tulsa 21:13
Women's Novice 4 (12 boats) 1. Oklahoma City `B' 17:02 2. Wichita State 17:13 3. Tulsa 18:13
Women's Open 8 1. Texas 14:14 2. Virginia 14:17 3. Texas 14:48 5. Tulsa `A' 14:52 8. Tulsa `B' 15:28 10. Tulsa `C' 15:47
500-Meter Sprint 1. Texas 1:47.40 2. Virginia 1:47.91 3. Texas 1:47.93 4. Tulsa 1:49.88 5. Texas 1:50.52
Women's Open 2 (8 boats) 1. Texas 16:38 2. Virginia 16:52 3. Texas 17:08 4. Tulsa `B' 18:48 5. Tulsa `A' 20:08
Women's Novice 8 (7 boats) 1. Wichita State 16:29 2. Kansas State Juniors 16:53 3. Tulsa 17:07
Women's Rec 1x 1. Tulsa 20:42 2. OAR 221:59
Women's Open 4+ (14 boats) 1. Texas 15:44 2. Tulsa `A' 16:02 3. Tulsa `B' 16:04 7. Tulsa `C' 16:41
