March 13, 2010

Oklahoma City, Okla. - The Tulsa women's rowers began the season with five first-place finishes today at the Oklahoma Invitational at the Exchange Street Boathouse on the North Canadian River in Oklahoma City, Okla. Racing will continue tomorrow against San Diego and Kansas, while the Lightweights will compete against the Jayhawks and SMU.

"Overall it was a good learning day for us," Head Coach Kevin Harris said. "Today was about figuring out lineups and fining a good level of speed."

The Varsity 8+ had a mixed day today, falling to the Sooners by nine seconds in the morning and topping Creighton by 17 seconds in the afternoon.

"We have to race at a higher level than we did today in the Varsity 8+," Harris said. "Our blade work wasn't clean against OU, but the team came back in the afternoon and put together a stronger race."

The Four was the only crew to post two top finishes on the day, dominating both OU and the Bluejays, while the 2nd Varsity 8+ was able to push away from Oklahoma.

"The Novice 8+ races were fun races to watch," Harris said. "It was great to see the changes they made from the morning to the afternoon. They really stepped up and put together one of the better performances on the day."

Novice 8+
1. Oklahoma - 7:17.05
2. Tulsa - 7:24.69
Novice 8+
1. Tulsa - 7:45.44
2. Kansas - 8:00.26
Varsity 4+
1. Tulsa `A' - 8:09.96
2. Oklahoma - 8:15.39
3. Tulsa `B' - 8:37.46
Varsity 4+
1. Tulsa `A' - 8:21.8
2. Tulsa `B' - 8:59.9
3. Creighton - 9:36.11
Varsity 8+
1. Oklahoma - 7:04.89
2. Tulsa - 7:13.77
Varsity 8+
1. Tulsa `A' - 7:18.64
2. Creighton - 7:35.53
3. Tulsa `B' - 7:36.87
Second Varsity 8+
1. Tulsa - 7:19.3
2. Oklahoma - 7:23.9