Bronchos Shine In Florida

3/25/2013 4:27:00 PM

FELLSMERE, Fla. -- The Central Oklahoma women's rowing team opened their spring schedule Saturday with a pair of duels against Barry and Nova Southeastern followig a week-long training camp that took place on Lake Pickett in Orlando.

The first duel against No. 1-ranked Barry started with the Varsity Eight event. Barry took a boat-length lead by the 500-meter mark and extended the margin throughout the race to finish in 6:45.9, while the Bronchos came in with a time of 6:58.6.

The Varsity Eight lineup was Amy VanBuskirk (cox), Michaela Stam, Kelsey Philhower, Karen Hoke, Jenna Goodner, Madison Martens, Tracey Lisowe, Rachel Kliewer, and Ariel Good.

The next two races belonged to the Bronchos, including victories in the Varsity Four and Second Varsity Four events, with the Varsity Four featuring two UCO entries against Barry.

The top entry of Jenna Laine Meraz (cox), Hannah Anderson, Brittany Rawlins, Samantha Elliott and Chelsea Robinette opened up a large margin in the first half of the race and was able to extend the lead in the closing meters to finish with a time of 7:49.5, 12 seconds ahead of Barry. The second entry -- Jenn Lee (cox), Michaela Rabenhorst, Kirsten Clark, Sam Godfrey and Morgan Henry -- battled back and forth with Barry the entire way down the course, eventually finishing only 1.2 seconds behind.

The Second Varsity Four event against Nova Southeastern contained two UCO teams, consisting of first-year members of the team.

The first entry of Tia Reed (cox), Kalli Schwartz, Marlie Ball, Asia Strickland, and Molly McSweeny was able to pull away from Nova around the 400-meter mark and never looked back, finishing with a time of 8:06.2. The second UCO team of J'Lynn Wiewel (cox), Aleks Stogsdill, Chelsea McArthur, Amy Le and Autumn Gordon finished third with a time of 8:56.8.

The second session of racing began with UCO's sixth-ranked Varsity Eight taking on second-ranked Nova Southeastern. The Sharks jumped out to an early lead and beat the Bronchos by 9.5 seconds.

The Varsity Four race began and ended much the same way as the earlier session, with the Bronchos coming emerging with the victory. The top entry covered the course in a time of 7:50.1, 6.4 second ahead of Nova, whiel the second UCO entry finished with a time of 8:03.6.

The Second Varsity Four race concluded the day for Central and finished with Nova outracing two Broncho entries. The top UCO team finished in a time of 8:17.1, with the second entry crossing in 8:40.7.

"We had a great week of camp, our best yet," head coach Andrew Derrick said. "We even raced pretty well with the exception of the eight, but so much hinges on that event so we know we need to continue to get better.

“We knew it was not going to be easy to race two very good Florida schools back-to-back this early, but that's the way it goes and we will just have to get faster. I was, however, very proud of our two varsity and two novice fours, who really put together some great races."

The Bronchos will next travel to San Diego for the San Diego Crew Classic during the weekend of April 6-7. During the 2012 Crew Classic, UCO finished second only to eventual national champion Humboldt State, whom they will meet again during this year's regatta.

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