Tulsa Rowers Take Second Place at the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship

Saturday, May 13

Sarasota, Fla.

10:00 am

Tulsa

The American Athletic Conference Championship

Tulsa Rowers Take Second Place at the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship

5/13/2017 7:48:00 PM | Rowing

The Tulsa women's rowing team finished in second-place at the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship Saturday at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla. It was the third-straight, second-place performance for the Golden Hurricane at The American Championship.

UCF outdistanced Tulsa for the third consecutive season, as the Knights totaled 217 points, while winning all six races en route to claiming its third-straight league title. Tulsa scored 189 points by winning five silver medals and capturing one bronze medal on the day. Sacramento State and San Diego State scored 119 points apiece, but Sacramento State won the tie-breaker based on the Varsity 8+ finish.

Tulsa placed second in the Varsity 4+, 2^nd Varsity 4+ and 3^rd Varsity 4+, as well as the Varsity 8+ and 2^nd Varsity 8+ races. The Hurricane captured the bronze medal in the 3^rd Varsity 8+.

"It was a really tough race course and the winds of 20 MPH made it more difficult for all the teams. I thought we handled it with real style and attacked the course and conditions," said Tulsa Head Coach Kevin Harris. "We raced UCF toe-to-toe and just came up short."

A comeback by the Tulsa's Varsity 8+ fell just 2.4 seconds from knocking off UCF. Tulsa's second-place boats in the 2^nd Varsity 4+ (+4.2), Varsity 4+ (+4.9), 2^nd Varsity 8+ (+5.5) all finished less than 0:06 off the winning time.

"For not having raced since April 1 due to flooding and high waters, I was so pleased with all of our boats. The Varsity 8+ put on a valiant effort, being down half a length the last quarter of the race and closed the gap to two seconds, basically boat-on-boat. That's the difference of us going to the NCAA Championships, but our hats off to UCF. They raced well today," added Harris.

For the second consecutive season, Jennifer Casson and Hannah Vissers were named to the American Athletic Conference all-conference first team, while Maria Gearing and Lauren Vander Hoeven earned second-team accolades.

Tulsa will conclude the season at the IRA Championship, June 2-4, in Gold River, California.

Final Standings
1.     UCF                     217
2.     Tulsa                    189
3.     *Sacramento State            119
        San Diego State    119
5.     UConn                 118
6.     Temple                90
7.     SMU                     87
*Sacramento State wins tie-breaker based on Varsity 8 finish

Varsity 8 Results           Time            Pts
1.   UCF                            06:24.8         96
2.   Tulsa                          +2.4              84
3.   Sacramento State        +6.0              72
4.   SMU                           +7.1              60
5.   San Diego State           +8.3              48
6.   UConn                        +12.1            36
7.   Temple                       +19.2            24

Varsity 8 Boat
Marcia Vidaurri
Jennifer Casson
Helen Leigh
Hannah Vissers
Lauren Vander Hoeven
Veronique Ulrich
Maria Gearing
Colleen Giesbrecht
Sophia Camara

2^nd Varsity 8 Results     Time            Pts
1.   UCF                            06:34.5         64
2.   Tulsa                          +5.5              56
3.   UConn                        +6.6              48
4.   San Diego State           +12.2            40
5.   Temple                       +18.5            32
6.   Sacramento State        +25.3            24
7.   SMU                           +35.4            16

2^nd Varsity 8 Boat
Sam Barber
Amy Pitzel
Julia Herrel
Mikala Burns
Paige Hallam
Madeline Lyons
Skylar Luttjehuizen
Madeline Oleksiak
Sydney Pirkle

3^rd Varsity 8 Results      Time            Pts
1.   UCF                            6:58.8           7
2.   UConn                        +2.14            6
3.   Tulsa                          +5.64            5
4.   Temple                       +23.8            4

3^rd Varsity 8 Boat
Elizabeth Natho
Emily Truss
Lindsay Crute
Elizabeth McCabe
Jasmine Leheta
Nicole Workman
Sarah Palilionis
Abigail Elggren
Nichole Backus

Varsity 4 Results           Time            Pts
1.   UCF                            7:22.2           32
2.   Tulsa                          +4.9              28
3.   San Diego State           +6.3              24
4.   Temple                       +12.0            20
5.   UConn                        +14.9            16
6.   Sacramento State        +17.6            12
7.   SMU                           +34.6            8

Varsity 4 Boat
Eva Trabucco
Alessia Ruggiu
Audrey Brown
Taylah Eder
Elisa Vandersloot

2^nd Varsity 4 Results     Time            Pts
1.   UCF                            07:39.6         9
2.   Tulsa                          +4.2              8
3.   San Diego State           +10.5            7
4.   UConn                        +14.8            6
5.   Temple                       +29.7            5
6.   Sacramento State        +34.3            4
7.   SMU                           +35.3            3

2^nd Varsity 4 Boat
Lindsey Smith
Daniela Fusco-House
Kristy Covre
Phoebe Mulligan
Lauren Turner

3^rd Varsity 4 Results      Time            Pts
1.   UCF                            0:78.6           9
2.   Tulsa                          +17.4            8
3.   Sacramento State        +28.7            7
4.   UConn                        +46.9            6
5.   Temple                       +57.2            5

3^rd Varsity 4 Boat
Katie Shin
Anna McHenry
Chaselyn Ruffaner-Hanson
Stephanie Call
Bryn Lewis