OU Goes for Third Straight Big 12 Title

May 15, 2015 | Rowing

By: Athletics Communications

NORMAN -- The University of Oklahoma rowing team heads to Oak Ridge, Tenn. this weekend in pursuit of its third consecutive Big 12 title and berth to the NCAA Championships.

The Big 12 Championships is a two-day event. The qualifying session will take place on Saturday in the afternoon, with the first varsity eight prelims to start things off at 1 p.m. CT. The finals are scheduled for Sunday morning beginning with the third varsity eight petite final at 8 a.m. CT.

Along with the first varsity eight and third varsity eight, teams will also compete in the second varsity eight, first varsity four and second varsity four to earn points. The top four boats in Saturday's qualifying will race in the grand finals on Sunday, while the boats that finish fifth through eighth will race in the petite finals on Sunday.

A full race schedule for the championships along with Saturday's heat lane assignments can be found here. To get up to the minute times and results from the weekend follow the live results here.

The Sooners have claimed each of the last two conference titles, earning 125 points in 2014 to take the crown in the five team field. OU also won the Conference USA titles the previous two years to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships but with the expansion of the Big 12 rowing conference to eight schools the Crimson and Cream no longer compete in C-USA.

The 2015 Big 12 Rowing Championship will mark the fourth season the event has been recognized as a fully-supported conference championship. The event will be hosted by the University of Tennessee at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Alabama, Old Dominion and Tennessee will join Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia in the 2015 event as affiliate members competing for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Rowing Championship.

Follow the official Twitter account for results and inside looks of the team at the Big 12 Championships this weekend @OU_Rowing.

Tentative lineups for Saturday and Sunday are below.

First Varsity 8
Rower		Position
	Ashley Carpenter	C
	Jennie O'Grady	S
	Maegan Neihart	7
	Elena Sloan	6
	Stephanie Busse	5
	Abby Griffith	4
	Taylor Spencer	3
	Kellie O'Reilly	2
	Reagan Collins	B

First Varsity 4
Rower		Position
	Rubie Hays	C
	Melissa Patten	S
	Daisy Beals	3
	Katie Ognovich	2
	Stephanie Tapke	B

Third Varsity 8
Rower		Position
	Katie Grantham	C
	Cara Hoelzl	S
	Lauren Bishop	7
	Natalie Grimes	6
	Miranda Rauner	5
	Brooke Benge	4
	Jalyn Yeakley	3
	Elizabeth Tracy	2
	Elizabeth Vernon	B

Second Varsity 8
Rower		Position
	Nicasia D'Allesandro	C
	Victoria Baker	S
	Marissa Beene	7
	Victoria Wallace	6
	Callie Kinsey	5
	Taylor Gillespie	4
	Emmie Preskitt	3
	Kim Moldenhauer	2
	Maddie Wullschleger	B