STORY AND PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ATHLETICS
IRVING, Texas – No. 1 Rowing’s First Eight earned Big 12 Boat of the Week honors, the conference announced on Wednesday. The Longhorns collected the weekly award after defeating No. 11. Michigan by over 11 seconds on Lady Bird Lake on Saturday.
Racing in ideal conditions with good water and no flow and a two to eight mile per hour headwind, the Longhorns squared off with Michigan in head-to-head competition for the third-straight year and the first time ever in Austin.
Michigan’s I Eight challenged Texas early, but the Longhorns were able to take command by the midway point of the 2,000-meter course and extend the lead through the remainder of the race, winning with a time of 6:10.738 to top the Wolverines, who crossed the line in 6:21.922.
The win helped complete a Longhorn sweep of four races over the Wolverines in UT’s first home race on Lady Bird Lake in seven years.
Texas’ I Eight featured senior coxswain Rachel Rane, as well as graduate student Kaitlin Knifton, fifth-year Susanna Temming, junior Anna Jensen, senior Etta Carpender, senior Sophia Calabrese, junior Samantha Schalk, graduate student, Kelsey McGinley and junior Amber Harwood.
The victory extended the Texas I Eight’s unbeaten streak to 22 consecutive races with a head-to-head record of 76-0 within those races since the streak began at the start of the 2021 season. The mark includes a 54-0 record against teams ranked in the CRCA Top 20.
Next up, Texas will head east to square off with No. 3 Yale and No. 4 Princeton in New Jersey on Saturday, April 22 with racing beginning at 9:30 a.m. CT. The Horns will then race No. 10 Virginia in Earlysville, Va. for the final regular season contest before Big 12 Championships.
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