RALEIGH, N.C. – The Knights wrapped up their racing weekend winning all four races on the final day of the Lake Wheeler Invitational.
“I’m extremely proud of this team,” head coach Mara Allen said. “We set a goal last night before the races to go 4-for-4 and I am proud of how they accomplished that goal the way they did this morning.”
The Knights’ II Four opened the morning with an open water win with a time of 7:43.313. The boat consisting of Sophie Tursi, Meagan Lukavec, Izzy Bate, Bella Montalvo and Melody Summers finished ahead of Tulsa (7:53.181), Navy (7:53.461), Kansas (7:56.981), Boston College (7:59.867).
The I Four followed with a time of 7:29.152, four seconds ahead of Navy’s time of 7:40.582. Kansas was third (7:40.630), trailed by Tulsa (7:48.114), Boston College (7:55.778) and Louisville (8:02.166). The Knights’ boat consisted of Audrey Vilendrer, Annberlee Hothem, Mal Thorsen, Amber Tulloch and Claire Kaminski.
UCF’s next event was the II Eight consisting of Mackenzie Harrod, Tash Voulanas, Coralie Detre, Maja Misljenovic, Veronica Rush, Aubrie Russo, Charlotte Wiley, Martina Pischedda and Connery Cassidy. The boat finished with a time of 6:49.558 ahead of Louisville (6:53.938), Tulsa (6:55.894), Navy (7:01.014), Kansas (7:01.894) and Boston College (7:02.446).
The Knights capped off the sweep with the I Eight crossing the finish line at 6:43.481. The boat consisted of Julia Going, Ines Martin, Seyene Oord, Brigitte Kappler, Tegan Fookes, Hannah Lovejoy, Aryann Johnson, Liza Lutter and Martyna Wasilewska. Louisville clocked a time of (6:48.945), followed by Tulsa (6:49.081), Boston College (6:51.433), Navy (6:52.817) and Kansas (6:56.309).
The Knights will have a few weeks off as they prepare for their first Big 12 Championship on May 19 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. UCF will face No. 2 Texas, No. 5 Tennessee, Alabama, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and West Virginia in the conference championship.