Oct. 28, 2001

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Kansas State women's rowing team traveled to Iowa City, Iowa, on Oct. 28 to participate in the Head of the Iowa.

The Wildcats began the day with the Varsity Pairs boat of freshman recruit Talara Wait and senior Glenna Yokum posting a 17:55.72 to finish fourth. The Kansas State pair finished 22 seconds behind the first place entry from Wisconsin that rowed a 17:33.81. Iowa rounded out the top three with its "A" boat recording a 17:33.94 and boat "C" finishing in 17:42.34.

The second K-State pair of Samantha Allen and Josie McClellan finished a disappointing eighth in a field of 17 boats. They recorded a time of 18:31.41 after being assessed with an interference penalty.

"We had a good race in the first women's pair," head rowing coach Jenny Hale said. "The "A" boat of Josie McClellan and Samantha Allen received a penalty that should not have happened. They were passing the Iowa-A boat and the official said it was interference. They would have won, but because of the penalty they finished eighth.

"Josie and Sam had a very good race. They had a very aggressive race. It was just unfortunate that they were assessed with a penalty. Glenna Yokum, our bow in the Varsity 8+, and Talara Wait did a nice job. They are two of the smaller girls on the team and they were battling a challenging head wind all day, but they handled it well."

KSU-A clinched a top 10 finish in a field of 27 Open 4+ boats, when the Wildcats recorded a 17:19.22 to finish ninth Minnesota took first (16:18.51) and third (16:22.06) place finishes. Tulsa claimed second finishing three seconds behind the first-place Minnesota boat with a time of 16:21.94. The KSU-B boat finished 17th with a time of 17:45.94.

"The fours rowed extremely sub-par," Hale said. "They were not very together. We should have finished higher, but they let the wind have an effect on their performance.

"I thought the B-four did a nice job. They have not been together in this lineup for very long, so it was a solid race for the amount of time they have had in that lineup."

In its second race of the fall season, the K-State Women's Novice 8+ recorded another top-10 finish for the Wildcats in Iowa. KSU-A rowed a time of 16:59.69 to claim fifth place in a field of 28 entries.

"I think we have a great novice team," head novice rowing coach Kevin Harris said. "They didn't live up to their potential today. They know they could have finished higher. In the beginning of the race we were pushing Minnesota, but they didn't fight through, and we let Minnesota walk away from us.

"The coxswains did a nice job of preparing their boats. We just need to figure out how to take that preparedness on the water with us."

KSU-A claimed the Wildcats only top three finish of the day, when it rowed a 14:28.51 to finish third in the Women's Open 8+. Wisconsin-A boat claimed first with a 14:12.06, while Minnesota-A placed second with a time of 14:22.50.

"This is the first time we have beaten Iowa in several years," Hale said. " Minnesota rowed a nice race. They really let the boat run, meaning they were getting more out of each stroke. It's a power issue. We need to work on that.

"I was pleased that we were 16 seconds off of Wisconsin. That is not bad at this time of the year."

The Wildcats will return to action Nov. 3 when they host the Sunflower Showdown (KU vs. KSU) in Manhattan, Kan.