Bronchos Take Gold In Wichita

11/5/2013 2:34:00 PM

From left: Hannah Anderson, Brittany Rawlins, Tracey Lisowe, Madison Martens and Jenna Laine Meraz.

WICHITA, Kan. -- The Central Oklahoma women's rowing team returned from the Wichita Frostbite Regatta with a collection of medals, including top finishes in the two marquee events -- the Varsity 8+ and the Varsity 4+.

Increasingly windy conditions made the head race course more challenging to traverse, but that did not slow down the UCO "A" entry in the Varsity 4+ event. With a time of 10:01, the Bronchos beat second-place Colorado by 17 seconds and third-place Wichita State by 24. UCO's "B" entry finished fourth in the event while the "C" entry came in seventh.

The winning crew included Jenna Laine Meraz (cox), Madison Martens, Tracey Lisowe, Brittany Rawlins and Hannah Anderson.

UCO's "A" team took silver in the Novice 8+ event, finishing just seven seconds behind Wichita State, while the "B" entry finished fifth.

The silver-winning Bronchos included Sarah Goodman (cox), Mackenzie Johnson, Lora Lynn Loomis, Lacie Metts, Savannah Sasser, Emma Hiel, Elaine Mustain, Abby Nickel and Brooke McArthur. The fifth-place crew included Keely Slocumb (cox), Sierra Campbell, Kate Singleton, Aubrey Brown, Jayme Brannen, Molly Hibbard, Haley Cook, Addie Courter and Leia McMurry.

Three UCO entries took to the Little Arkansas River next for the Novice 4+ event. The top Broncho entry traversed the course with a time of 11:49 to take fourth, just two seconds behind third-place. The two other UCO entries came in seventh and eight in the 11-crew field with times of 12:19 and 13:07, respectively.

The day concluded with the Varsity 8+ event, which the Bronchos won by 12 seconds over second-place Wichita State. The winning team finished in 9:22, the fastest time recorded on the day by a women's crew.

The winning Broncho crew was made up of Amy VanBuskirk (cox), Hannah Anderson, Brittany Rawlins, Tracey Lisowe, Madison Martens, Chelsea Robinette, Kalli Schwartz, Kirsten Clark and Morgan Henry.

"This has been our most challenging fall schedule to date and the team has improved throughout," said head coach Andrew Derrick. "The novices in particular have come a long way and we are excited to bring the whole team together for joint practices as we start looking at athletes for spring seats. We definitely have to find some more speed if we want to make NCAAs again and continue our trajectory of improvement every year."

The Wichita Frostbite Regatta marks the end of UCO's fall racing schedule. The team will largely head indoors during the winter months in preparation for the spring racing season and the pursuit of a third-consecutive berth to the NCAA Division II National Championships.

More information on the spring schedule can be found on www.bronchosports.com in the coming months. Full results from Wichita can be found here.

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