3/16/2007

Hello Tulsa Rowing Fans!

Sorry we have not sent out an e-letter in awhile but your rowers have been working hard to get ready for spring racing. We also have been working to complete our new boathouse. TU has been rowing out of the J. Bird Sr. Shell Nest (affectionately shortened to "Bird House" by our rowers) for the past month. They have done a lot of good hard work and the team is looking forward to the season.

After an excellent fall, your rowers worked incredibly hard during their winter training period. One of the benefits of having worked hard on our facilities over the last few yeas is the realization that TU now has one of the best rowing situations in the Midwest for rowing. With the Jack Zink Indoor Rowing Center and the ability to row on the Verdigris, there was no need for TU to make the 8 hour trip south to Austin for our yearly winter training session. TU spent the week after exams making technical improvements on our home water in 70 degree weather. Many of our rowers felt that it was one our best winter training sessions yet. We rowed just under 100 miles in five days plus getting to work on the ergometers and in the tank. The added benefit was having the rowers sleep in their own beds and train in their own surroundings. We are looking forward to doing this more often over the next few years and perhaps inviting other teams in the spring time for competitions.

The actual building for the J. Bird Sr. Shell Nest was finished in early January and TU moved boats in on January 8. The plan had been to spend the month of January and February rowing at least three days per week in the usually mild winter weather of Oklahoma. Mother Nature had other ideas as we suffered through weeks of below average temperatures and more snow and ice than the northern tier states had for awhile. One weekend when we had recruits in from Chicago, they commented it was colder in Tulsa than in Chicago! The team persevered and saw good improvements in fitness.

One of the neatest things the team ventured during winter training was to drive down to Dallas and participate in the Dallas Southwest Ergometer Amateur (SWEAT) Regatta. Many people don’t know that indoor rowing is actually a sport which culminates with the World Indoor Rowing Championships (CRASH-B) in Boston in late February. We had twenty-two athletes drive down to compete at 2000m. We even had four coxswains compete with Gabriela Lopez turning in the winning time of 8:37. I am proud to say that we had 7 personal bests and swept the Novice event with freshmen Aidan Leddy, Jenna Anderson, and Hannah Grafe finishing 1st-3rd in the event. On the varsity side, our women finished a close 3rd, 4th with Michelle Sechser and Vanessa Andrews finishing just behind and ahead of SMU rowers. Vanessa finished with a personal best of 7:25.8. TU also won the lightweight event with Co-captain Monika Burton finishing close to her personal best at 8:00. All in all it was a good day a nd a learning experience for the crew. Mostly what they were able to see is just how close our crews are with SMU, a crew that we will compete with multiple times this spring.

On March 9th the team leaves for a week of training in Oak Ridge, TN. While there the team will scrimmage the University of Louisville and the University of Buffalo among others. It should be a good early season test to get the team ready for its first official competition on March 25th. I’ll get you an update as soon as possible.

I hope that all of our fans have March 25th on their schedule. That day will see a resumption of the Lawless Cup after a two year hiatus due to lack of water in 2005 and a deep freeze in Omaha in 2006. We will be racing Creighton University in six events. Also, we will be dedicating the new boathouse and honoring our donors. Another important event for the day will be the recognition of the six seniors who will be graduating this year. This is the year that we lose Emily Bailey, Julie Burch, Monika Burton, Sarah Laurent, Gabriela Lopez, and Kelly Rider. With the exception of Kelly who is actually graduating a year early and joining the Peace Corps, these women form the core of the first group of women that I have been privileged to coach for four years at TU. They will be missed and I hope you can all make plans to come out and wish them well. The regatta will begin at 8am at Rogers Point Park in Catoosa, OK.

The rest of season looks like this:

March 31st in Lawrence, KS versus Kansas and Drake April 14-15th in Cherry Hill, NJ for the Knecht Cup April 20-22nd in Oak Ridge, TN for Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship April 28th in Oklahoma City, OK for the Midwest Intercollegiate Rowing Championships May 11-12th in Philadelphia for the Dad Vail Regatta May 13th in Cherry Hill for the Eastern Sprints Regatta (tentative)

Let us know if you’ll be at any of those venues and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

Until then, good rowing!

Kevin Harris, Head Coach

Kevin Harris, Head Coach

University of Tulsa

Women's Rowing

(918) 631-2971