ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Winning a championship is quite an accomplishment. But for a pair of UCF rowers, it's all they know.
Two Knights, Viktorija Senkute and Catherine Harms, will exhaust their eligibility not only as four-time team champions, but also having won each event in which they've raced at conference.
"Every (student-athlete) has a dream to win (their) conference championship four times in a row," Senkute said. "I'm so proud and happy to say that I did it all four years. It's just amazing. I don't know what it means to lose a conference championship."
Harms: "If someone told me my freshman year that we would win all four years, I wouldn't believe them. So much hard work has been put in, and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing it pay off."
When the 2018 senior class arrived in the fall of 2014, the rowing program was on an upward swing. At the 2014 American Athletic Conference Championship, the Knights finished just 22 points behind Louisville for second place in the team standings.
On May 17, 2015, UCF's Varsity Eight – whose lineup included three freshmen – used an open-water win to clinch the first conference title in program history.
In May 2015 the Knights repeated, winning the Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four races. Last season, the Black and Gold earned a three-peat in dominant fashion, sweeping all six events at the conference championship.
Fast forward to May 2018.
While UCF was the unspoken favorite to defend its title, the Knights were not favored in two important races – the Second Varsity Eight and the Varsity Eight.
The Second Varsity Eight – coxed by Harms – lined up next to the favored Tulsa crew. In the first 500 meters, the boat stayed with the pack. By the 1,000-meter mark, the squad had an open water lead on all six crews, and cruised to a near-three second victory.
Having split with Tulsa during the regular season, the Knights were seeded second in the Varsity Eight race. The three-time event champion needed to finish in third or better to secure the team title.
By the final 500 meters, the V8 had pushed its bow ball out in front, and as the boat crossed the finish line first, Senkute raised four fingers in the air.
"(There are) no words," Senkute said when asked to describe her feelings as the crew rowed across the line. "All I did was raise four fingers to the sky because we did it. All four years."
On May 25, the duo will open their final NCAA Championships.
"I still can't believe I'm a senior; I don't know where the time went," Harms said. "It feels like just yesterday I was a freshman. All I know is I'm so grateful to have been on this team the last four years and will carry these memories with me forever."
While their days of racing in Black and Gold are quickly coming to a close, the legacy that this senior class will leave is undeniable.
"We really took a turn in the culture of the team; they've really helped build the foundation," head coach Becky Cramer said of the senior class. "To be able to start out as the first team to win (conference), and now to leave with four rings, I know, it means a lot to these seniors."
The 2018 NCAA Rowing Championships, cohosted by UCF and Nathan Benderson Park, will take place May 25-27 in Sarasota. Championship information, including how to purchase tickets can be found here.