MANHATTAN, Kan. In its final regatta of the fall season, the Kansas State women’s rowing team won two of the five races at the ninth annual Sunflower Showdown held Saturday at Tuttle Creek Reservoir.

Competing against in-state rival Kansas for state bragging rights, K-State jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the point scoring as the Second Varsity 8+ defeated KU at the finish line with a time of 7:39.5. In the following race, the Jayhawks answered back with a 10-second victory over the First Varsity 8+ (6:36.2).

For the third-straight race, the First Novice 8+ dominated the competition with a winning-time of 7:03.0, which was close to a full-minute ahead of KU’s top boat (8:00.6). Coxswain Anna Wagner, Amber Mulyck, Heather Hoffman, Kari Chadd, Jennifer Flannigan, Kate Priest, Whitney Revell, Heather Gerstner and Michelle Higgins, each contributed to the best-ever fall showing by a Novice 8+ in school history.

KU won the two remaining races to edge K-State, 14-10, in the overall scoring column. The Wildcats had previously won the last three consecutive fall meetings between both schools. K-State, however, still leads the all-time series with five victories, dating back to the inaugural 1997 season.

The Sunflower Showdown was the first and only race of the fall season, where each team raced 2,000 meters in a side-by-side format.

“We are really happy with our fall racing,” Head coach Patrick Sweeney said. “We continue to move in the right direction and the success of our First Novice Eight throughout the fall season shows where the program is headed.

“The First Varsity Eight rowed very well today and led for the first 1,200 meters, but couldn’t hold it at the end. The Second Varsity Eight came back in the middle of the race and won. Overall, I thought we did very well in our fall racing and we will continue to compete at a high-level come spring.”

With the end of the fall season, the Wildcats head into winter training until they are back in action on March 17-19 at the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas.

SUNFLOWER SHOWDOWN

Kansas 14, Kansas State 10

Nov. 12, 2005

Tuttle Creek Reservoir

at Manhattan, Kan.

SECOND VARSITY 8+ (5 Points)

1, Kansas State, 7:39.5. 2, Kansas, 7:40.6.

FIRST VARSITY 8+ (8 Points)

1, Kansas, 6:36.2. 2, Kansas State, 6:46.3.

FIRST NOVICE 8+ (5 Points)

1, Kansas State, 7:03.0. 2, Kansas (A), 8:00.6. 3, Kansas (C), 8:44.6.

SECOND NOVICE 8+ (3 Points)

1, Kansas (B), 7:30.2. 2, Kansas State, 7:48.6. 3, Kansas (D), 8:38.3.

VARSITY 4+ (3 Points)

1, Kansas, 7:05.6. 2, Kansas State (B), NTR. 3, Kansas State (A), NTR.