Rowing Opens 2010 Season

March 10, 2010

The University of Oklahoma women's rowing team begins the 2010 campaign, this weekend at the OU Invitational. As the second season begins for the program, the Sooners look to build on last year's success with veteran leadership and a strong freshman class.

Directions to the OU Invitational

This season Oklahoma looks to its veteran leadership in Chelsea Moore and Meagan Harrell and sophomore coxswain Lauren Price, who all competed with the varsity four in 2009. The Sooners have four returning rowers from the first novice eight, including sophomore Brooke Sheppard, senior coxswain Kelsey Witten, sophomore Sarah Kelle and senior Monique Gaines, that move into varsity boats this season. Murray State transfer Nicole Furmanek, joins the varsity roster as a freshman racing in the First Varsity Eight.

Head Coach Leeanne Crain signed nine athletes to the first recruiting class. Rebecca Staff already comes to Oklahoma with international experience. Staff won the 2009 Canadian Junior National Team trials in the 1x. The signing class also includes Abbey LaFollette and Ashley LaFollette who placed in the top 12 at the USRowing youth nationals in 2009 and Meghan Farrell, the first place finisher in Varsity Quad at Youth Nationals in 2009.

"We are really looking forward to the spring season," said Crain. "We've done a lot of fundamental technical work on the river and have had solid training sessions on the ergs and I'm eager to see how it all pays off."

The Sooners travel from the west coast to the east coast this year, competing in some of the most well-known regattas in the country.

Oklahoma competes against Creighton, Kansas, San Diego SMU and Tulsa at the OU Invitational. The race course is on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City. OU then travels south to Austin, Texas, to compete on Lady Bird Lake. The 2,000-meter course features teams from Texas, Iowa, Louisville, Kansas State and UCF. The two regattas serve as a precursor for the Big 12 Championship where the Sooners face Texas, Kansas and Kansas State in dual racing.
The Sooners head west to San Diego for the largest regatta in the world, exclusively for eight oar racing competitions. Held on Mission Bay, the Crew Classic features 96 races for more than 3,400 athletes. Last season, the OU first novice eight advanced to the Grand Finals and placed fifth as the only non-Pac 10 team. Fans can watch races via a live streaming webcast, as well as on the national broadcast found on ESPNU.

"We have a pretty aggressive racing schedule with the OU Invitational, Longhorn and Crew Classic back-to-back," Crain added. "Over the course of those three weekends in March, we'll race 10 times. It will give us the opportunity to look at lineups and see how the athletes handle the stress of that many races in that period of time."

OU begins the month of April on the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Sooners compete against Alabama and Old Dominion in the one-day event. In preparation for the Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma competes at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships. The Sooners are familiar with the 2,000-meter Oak Ridge course, where they saw success last season. The novice four finished in second place in the Grand Final, earning a silver medal.

Oklahoma hosts the second annual Big 12 Championship May 1. Last season, the Sooners had a strong showing with two first-place finishes and a second place-finish. OU did not factor into scoring last season due to only fielding three boats, but looks to capture its first Big 12 title this season.

The rowing team competes on the Oak Ridge course for the second time at the NCAA South/Central Regionals. In 2009, Oklahoma's varsity four and first novice eight advanced to the Grand Finals and finished fifth and sixth respectively.

"I anticipate a lot of growth over the course of the season," Crain noted. "We've worked mostly fundamentals thus far, so the racing elements should evolve greatly over the next two months. We've taken steps in the right direction and the team has made significant progress. Our emphasis will be controlling what we can and continuing to look ahead for change, improvement, maturity and evolution as a team."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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