ORLANDO - The UCF rowing team will close out its regular season in a Senior Day duel against Miami on Lake Pickett on Sunday afternoon.
This will mark the second meeting of the two crews this season. The last time the Knights faced the Hurricanes, all boats competed in the Grand Finals against each other at the Sarasota 2K earlier this spring. The Black and Gold topped Miami in every race the two teams competed in with the largest margin of victory being just over ten seconds in the I Eight A Final.
The regular season will be capped off with the Knights sitting at No. 15 in the Pocock CRCA poll for four consecutive weeks, a history-making record.
The race schedule is slated to begin with the III Eight at 2:00 p.m. The next to race will be the II Four, with the addition of UCF’s III Four 20 minutes later. At 2:40 p.m., the I Four will take the water for their duel. The Eights will be the next to compete with the II Eight beginning at 3:00 p.m. and the I Eight at 3:20 p.m.
Immediately following the race will be a Senior Day ceremony beginning at 3:30 p.m. The graduates being recognized include Julia Going, Elsa Casselius, Jasmeen Fajardo-Lopez, Meagan Lukavec, Madlen Markova and Elisa Faiola.
The two coxswains, Julia Going and Elsa Casselius, both competed in the season-opening duel against Jacksonville with Going coxing the II Eight and Casselius with the III Four. In addition to the duel, Going has coxed the II Eight at every race following including the sweep of the Sarasota 2K.
Senior Jasmeen Fajardo-Lopez also competed with the III Four in the duel against Jacksonville. Alongside the rest of the four, Fajardo-Lopez recorded a time of 8:19.10 on the day against the Dolphins.
Another graduate being honored, Meagan Lukavec has competed in the Fours with the Black and Gold for four years. Lukavec was named to the AAC All-Academic team during her freshman and sophomore years, as well as the Spring Academic All-Big 12 Team last season. This year, Lukavec has competed with the II Four in all races, topping ranked teams such as Duke and Oklahoma.
Elisa Faiola and Madlen Markova, two fifth-years, will also be recognized at the ceremony. The duo of transfers have competed in the I Eight all season, garnering two Big 12 Boat of the Week titles. The two have bested ranked opponents in Duke and North Carolina as well as coming within seconds of then No. 5 Tennessee in the I Eight.
The UCF Intercollegiate Rowing Center will be open to the public for race day, opening at 1:00 p.m. Racing will be streamed on the UCF Knights YouTube account.