MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University rowing team will compete at the 2016 Big 12 Rowing Championship, set for May 14-15, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
For the second consecutive season, the event is hosted by the University of Tennessee. Competition from Melton Hill Lake begins at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Sunday’s competition starts at 9 a.m. ET.
Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, No. 8 Texas and West Virginia are joined by Alabama, Old Dominion and Tennessee as affiliate members to compete for the conference’s automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Rowing Championship. The NCAA Championship takes place in Sacramento, California, from May 27-29.
“Now that we’re done with finals, we’re focused on striking the right balance of work and recovery as we head into the Big 12 Championship,” said coach Jimmy King. “The hay is in the barn, so now it’s just a matter of getting after it on race day.”
The eight-team field will be divided into two four-team heats for the 2,000-meter sprint race on Saturday. The top-three finishers in each heat will advance to the Grand Final on Sunday morning. The fourth-place finisher from each heat will compete in the Petite Final on Sunday morning.
Three events will be scored to determine the NCAA Championship automatic qualifier from the Big 12 Conference. The most points will be awarded from the results in the first varsity eight, followed by the second varsity eight and the first varsity four.
The Longhorns are coming off its fifth conference championship in seven years. West Virginia finished in seventh place, amassing 16 team points a season ago.
The Mountaineers were idle last week in preparation for the conference championship event. Most recently, WVU concluded its 2016 regular season with the EAWRC Springs on May 1, in Worcester, Massachusetts. WVU’s varsity four B crew finished first in the Petite Final and seventh overall with a time of 8:33.069 for the Mountaineers’ top finish of the day.
