ORLANDO - The UCF rowing team will hit the road for the first time this season for the Sarasota 2K on Friday and Saturday.
This will be the Knights’ eighth appearance at the Sarasota 2K, previously named the Sunshine State Invitational. The crew will take the water at Nathan Benderson Park, the first of two visits to the site this season.
In addition to UCF, 17 other crews will be making the trip to Sarasota. This includes all fellow Big 12 teams: Old Dominion, Tulsa, West Virginia, Kansas and Kansas State. It will be the first time Old Dominion and Tulsa compete against UCF as members of the Big 12.
In addition to the Knights, the race will include two other ranked teams featured in this week’s Pocock CRCA poll. The two crews, No. 18 Alabama and No. 19 North Carolina, mark the first ranked competition the Black and Gold will face this season.
The only opponents at this weekend’s race that the Knights have competed against this season are the Jacksonville Dolphins. In the dual race against the squad, UCF won five out of six races with open water to spare.
The two-day event will begin with time trials and heats on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. Racing will be held on Saturday morning with the first launch slated for 8 a.m. The event concludes with the award ceremony at 12:25 p.m. on Saturday.