April 22, 2008

Manhattan, KS (UWIRE) -- The Kansas State University rowing team returned home after participating in the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association competition over the weekend.

"I am very pleased with how the team performed," said coach Patrick Sweeney. "It was a good solid performance against good competition."

Saturday, the Wildcats were able to get three boats to qualify for the A Finals, including both varsity crews. Both varsity crews placed in the top two of their respective heats while the Second Varsity 8 won its heat.

The Novice 4 team placed third in its preliminary heat, qualifying them for the AB semifinal later that night. During the AB semifinal, the Wildcats finished fourth, which was good enough to qualify them for the B Final on Sunday.

"Our team is still very young," said Heather Hoffman, junior in communication sciences. "We learned that we can push ourselves farther than what we thought we could. It was definitely a step in the right direction."

The second day of the event put the Wildcats up against tougher competition. The Novice 4 crew started the day off placing sixth in the B Final, while the Novice 8 team placed fifth in the first A Final race.

The JV team was able to come away with a victory in its A Final race. The Wildcats won the race a full five seconds ahead of second-place Purdue University.

Finally, the K-State Varsity 8 crew placed third in its A Final race just three seconds behind the Southern IRA overall event winner Purdue.

"We showed up as a team," said Jennifer Flannigan, junior in kinesiolgy. "We worked as a team and by doing that allowed us to succeed."

Next up for the K-State rowing team will be the Big 12 Conference Invitational on May 3 at Austin, Texas.

"The Big 12 Invitational is going to be tough," Sweeney said. "Texas and KU are very deep, but hopefully we can carry over some momentum from this weekend."

(C) 2008 Kansas State Collegian via UWIRE