Rowing team struggles in championship meet

Seasons come and seasons go, and K-State's rowing team ended its regular season on a rather low note.

Last weekend, the team traveled to Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to compete in the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship. After two days of tough competition, not one of the five competing boats won any races.

However, there was one highlight of the weekend: the Novice 4+ team brought back a second-place finish in its competition, a feat highlighted by the fact that the boat had never raced before in this season.

Head coach Patrick Sweeney said he attributed the poor results to little preparation in the water prior to the meet and the relative inexperience of the team, a factor stemming mostly from the ages of the athletes, according to a press release from the Sports Information office.

Kicking off the day of races for K-State, the Varsity 8+ boat took last place in a heat against Purdue, Tulsa and Grand Valley, who won the race. On Sunday, the boat won the B final over Southern Methodist University and Jacksonville.

Of the other boats from K-State that competed in Tennessee on Saturday, Novice 8+ finished third out of five, Second Varsity 8+ ended in the last of five, Varsity 4+ was fourth of six and Novice 8+ dropped its heat as sixth of six.

The team will return to competition when it goes down to Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championships on May 1.