The Kansas State women’s rowing team began its season March 8, with many of its members rowing competitively for the first time.
Head coach Patrick Sweeney said the team consists mostly of rookies. With the unpredictable and unfavorable weather, the team worked hard on land to prepare to row on Tuttle Creek Lake.
“Well, we get frozen off come November through now — March — is normally what happens,” Sweeney said. “That’s why we can get them very strong in land with on-land training. The other one is normally in the spring, it’s windy. And that’s the second thing. Great piece of water when it’s not blowing because it’s a large expanse of water. But the trouble is being in the open.”
Symone Simmons, a senior rowing for her fourth year, said she was excited about the chance to be a D1 athlete. She said part of why she joined the team was the recruiter’s encouragement.
“They were just kind of, were like, ‘You’re tall, athletic, we think you can do this,’” Simmons said. “And so I kind of just took a chance, and here I am. So it’s worked out, and I’m very grateful.”
Assistant coach Kennedy Felice said the position was an opportunity to pay it forward after rowing had such a positive impact on her college experience.
“This is a special place; there’s a lot of special people here, and being able to be part of that, and just continuing to build it up and push it forward was something that sounded really exciting, and something that I wanted to say yes to,” Felice said. “With the way that we recruit, all of our athletes come in with not a ton of experience. We do have some athletes that have rowed before, but primarily, they’re out-of-sport athletes. So seeing what they’ve been able to accomplish over the last few months, especially since we started up in August, has been something that they should be proud of.”
Sweeney said the rowing team’s goal isn’t to be the best, but to become a competitive team.
“We’re not necessarily trying to set the world on fire and be world champions,” Sweeney said. “What we want to do is be very competitive with the best programs in the country. If we beat them, it’s a plus; if we don’t, it’s like, we want to be close.”
K-State opened the spring season March 8 with five first place finishes during the UCO Invitational on the Oklahoma River. The Wildcats claimed the most first place finishes across eight races against hosting Central Oklahoma and Tulsa.
K-State will race again on Friday and Saturday in the Hornet Invitational hosted by Sacramento State in Sacramento, California.
