OCU battles Wichita State all Weekend at the Upper Midwest Sprints

The OCU Rowing team placed in first and second in all of their events at the Upper Midwest Sprints on Sunday, April 10. Creighton hosted the regatta on Carter Lake in Omaha, NE, and the Men’s Varsity 8+ started the racing with a close win. Coxswain Jacob Fox (Egg Harbor Twshp, NJ) led the crew of Jared Hooley (Dexter, OR), Jake Lamb (Scottsdale, AZ), Matt Mahon (Chesterfield, MO), Clay Puckett (Edmond, OK), Michael Pitts (Chicago, IL), Brock Turner (Tulsa, OK), J. Kyle Adair (Haddonfield, NJ) and Ryan Claussen (Manhattan, KS) to a 3:53 finish time over the shortened 1400 meter course. Wichita State University (WSU) crossed the finish line just a couple of seconds later.

In the women’s priority line-up, the Varsity Four (4+) of coxswain Briana Hurley (Oklahoma City), Cassie Robbins (Manassas, VA), Megan Duffy (Bothell, WA), Dinah Harjo (Norman, OK) and Katie Sondag (Eugene, OR) took advantage of the early day tail wind to row a 5:13. The WSU Women’s Shockers edged them out for the top spot with a 5:08. Due to an increasingly quartering tail wind, the Women’s Varsity Pair (2-) of Shantel Wagner (Oklahoma City) and A. Rose Lane (Tulsa, OK) was canceled.

The Men’s 8+ line-up divided into a Varsity Four (4+) and Novice Four (4+). Turner, Claussen, Pitts and Puckett joined freshman coxswain Allison Lashmet (Wynantskill, NY) to win the Novice Four (4+) in 4:29 while Wichita State finished eleven seconds behind for the silver medal. The Varsity Four (4+) of Fox, Hooley, Mahon, Lamb and Adair rowed a 4:27 and were edged out by WSU who took first place in 4:27.

Lashmet also coxed the third flight of the Varsity Four (4+) of Patrick Hylton (Norman, OK), Blake Marley (Norman, OK), Ryan Carroll (Broken Arrow, OK) and Riley Behms (Grove, OK) to a gold medal finish with a time of 4:48. Once again, WSU took second with a 4:56. John Riesenberg (Oklahoma City, OK) and P. Nick Hylton (Ft Worth, TX) had the most commanding win in the Men’s Varsity Pair (2-) clocking a 5:01 and finishing 22 second ahead of the University of St. Thomas.

With 128 points, WSU won the Men’s All-Points-Trophy, MaryJean Mcaugan Memorial Award, and OCU came in second with 91 points. The OCU Men will next line-up on the starting docks on Saturday, April 15 at the Southeast Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championships on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, TN. THE OCU Women will take on in-state rivals University of Tulsa and University of Central Oklahoma at the Tulsa Duels on the Verdigris River in Catoosa, OK.