Sooners Conclude Conference Opener in Tennessee

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - Oklahoma completed their first conference slate of the spring season against no. 18 Tennessee and Alabama on Saturday morning.

"I thought Alabama and Tennessee did a great job laying down a fast paced set of races," said head coach Sarah Trowbridge. "I'm glad we could see where we stack up right now early in the season."

Out of five boats that hit the water, OU's 1V8+, 2V4+ and 3V8+ squads were the three that had their fastest 2,000-meter races of the season. Oklahoma's 1V8+ was 6.5 seconds off the Lady Volunteers' 1V8+ following the final race of the day.

"In the fours, there is a lot of drive and team competition to push ourselves and it showed in our results today," said senior Shelby Hedgpeth. Hedgpeth and her 2V4+ crew were in close competition with the 1V4+ boat's time by 7.8 seconds. The 2V4's time marked their fastest race of the season thus far.

Alabama swept four of the five races at the end of the day, with Tennessee taking the win in the 2V8+.

Oklahoma will cross paths with Tennessee and Alabama again on April 21-22 for the Lake Wheeler Invite in Raleigh, N.C.

Up next, the Sooners will travel to Lawrence, Kan. to take on Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota.