The University of Louisville rowing team completed the third and final round of the Lake Wheeler Invitational on April 25, finishing eighth out of 20 teams after a series of competitive races.
The results matter as they reflect incremental progress for Louisville ahead of the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships. The team earned a total of 37 points, with four out of five boats securing second-place finishes in their heats during Saturday’s final round.
Associate head coach Ed Oxlade said, “The team showed its growth in depth at this regatta this year. It is encouraging to see the margins on our competitors tighten to those programs ahead and maintain or increase to those chasing us hard and keeping us honest. We tell the team regularly that we move forward by incremental growth, which is sometimes hard to see. They are certainly doing that and the opportunities to make an impact at the ACC Championships will present themselves if we keep working hard and squeezing our margins daily in training.”
Varsity 8 seven-seat Claire Carver-Ritter said, “It was a really fun weekend. I’ve never seen the team perform at Lake Wheeler as well as we did this weekend. It was fun to watch our 4’s be competitive in their races and the consistency from the program throughout the weekend made me proud of my team and happy to be a Cardinal.” Varsity 8 six-seat Haley Kunz added, “This weekend provided an honest reflection of where we stand as a program right now. Across the board, each boat performed in line with expectations, and we saw measurable progress against ACC opponents, tightening margins in key races. A few of the standout performances came from the 4’s which built a lot of momentum for the team.”
Louisville’s Varsity 8 finished second behind Southern Methodist University (SMU) with a time of 6:34.770; Second Varsity 8 also placed second behind SMU at 6:45.270; Varsity Four finished second behind SMU at its fastest time for the weekend (7:23.170); Second Varsity Four took second place just behind Oklahoma (7:32.100). Coxswain Zoe Desserich said she was excited about both her boat’s energy and overall team performance while Keira Krebs highlighted her crew’s win over ranked Oklahoma earlier in competition.
Looking ahead, Louisville will return to Raleigh for ACC Championships on May 15-16. Kunz concluded by saying she is excited “to lead this energy into the next couple of weeks” as preparations continue for what Oxlade described as likely being “the fastest ACC Rowing Championships in years.”
