KANSAS CITY, Kan. The weather conditions couldn’t stop the show and the Kansas State women’s rowing team as the Wildcats tied in-state rival Kansas for second at the Big 12 Rowing Invitational held Sunday afternoon at Wyandotte Lake & Park.

For most of the weekend, heavy rain plagued the Kansas City area and created just a bit of a headwind and bumpy water conditions for all three conference crews in their sixth annual meeting on the water. For the first time in Big 12 Invitational history, championship racing was held outside of Manhattan, Lawrence or Austin.

Kansas State’s First Novice Eight captured the team’s first and only victory of the day, beating out rival Texas (8:29.1) by 8.8 seconds with a winning-time of 8:20.3. The Wildcat crew comprised of coxswain Anna Wagner, Amber Mulyck, Michael Knoll, Kate Priest, Whitney Revell, Jayme File, Carlee Parke, Julia Roque and Michelle Higgins, turned in a program-best finish by a Novice Eight squad at the Big 12 Invitational. The Novice Eight have won all but one race this spring.

“We keep on slowing them (Novices) down and they keep on going faster,” Kansas State head coach Patrick Sweeney said. “We are moving the Novices up all the time (to the Varsity level) and to compete with a different crew and get the same results it’s fun to see them be so successful.”

The Novices weren’t the only ones to show signs of improvement this spring. The Second Varsity Eight (8:25.4) placed a program-best second in its respective race as did the Varsity Four (9:20.8). Both Wildcat boats finished ahead of the Jayhawks by more than eight seconds.

“I am really pleased at how well all of our crews are improving technically and they handled the weather conditions better than the crews from Texas and KU,” Sweeney said. “The First Varsity Eight’s performance today was a little disappointing, but the majority of the team is still improving and progressing. That has been our overall theme this season we have made a lot of progress.”

Texas won its fifth-straight Big 12 Invitational with a combined 56 points, while K-State and KU tied with 44 points. The Longhorns previously won the conference title in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. The invitational was cancelled due to weather in 2004 when it was held in Manhattan.

The Wildcats will close out the 2005-06 season at the NCAA Central Region Championships on May 13-14 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

BIG 12 INVITATIONAL

April 30, 2006

Wyandotte Lake & Park

at Kansas City, Kan.

TEAM SCORING 1, Texas (56 points), 2T, Kansas State (44 points), 2T, Kansas (44 points).

FIRST NOVICE EIGHT 1, Kansas State, 8:20.3, 2, Texas, 8:29.1, 3, Kansas, 8:40.1.

VARSITY FOUR 1, Texas, 9:06.5, 2, Kansas State, 9:20.8, 3, Kansas, 9:28.2, 4, Texas (Exh.) 9:30.5.

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT 1, Texas, 8:11.3, 2, Kansas State, 8:25.4, 3, Kansas, 8:35.7.

FIRST VARSITY EIGHT 1, Texas, 7:58.5, 2, Kansas, 8:05.2, 3, Kansas State, 8:19.0.