Rowing Opens Spring Season at Oak Ridge

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville rowing team opens the 2018 championship season this weekend as they host the seventh annual Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational at the Melton Lake Rowing Venue in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The Cardinals will be joined on Saturday and Sunday by 11 other programs, including fellow Atlantic Coast Conference members Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame and Virginia. Additional participants include Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Tennessee, Tulsa, Wisconsin and Yale. Five of this weekend's squads appeared in last year's 2017 NCAA Division I Championships.

The event will commence on Saturday with a morning session from 9 a.m.-noon ET, followed by an afternoon session from 2:30-6 p.m. ET. Competition will conclude with a Sunday morning session from 9 a.m.-noon ET. Live results from all three sessions will be available on the Louisville rowing team Twitter account (@UofLRowing), with full results and daily recaps on Row2K.com and GoCards.com.

"Everyone with the Oak Ridge Rowing Association does a tremendous job with this event, and we're excited to be going back again this spring for this event," said head coach Derek Copeland. "We have so many top-level programs competing this year and it should create some very intense racing, especially for the first event of the spring."

The regatta provides the team with a terrific opportunity to open the spring season with top competition from around the country. It also offers the team a large-scale hosting opportunity before traveling for the remainder of the season.

"The Cardinal Invite is always a fun regatta for us," said graduate assistant coach Gracie Barbara, who oversees the event. "It is our first regatta of the season and we will have a week of spring training under our belt before we compete against some of the top teams in the country. We've spent so much time on Melton Lake over the years that it feels like a second home to us."

Louisville returns to official competition for the first time since closing its fall season in November at the Rivanna Romp at the University of Virginia. In the event, the varsity eight crew finished second, while the varsity four crew turned in a third-place finish. Earlier in the season, the Cardinals grabbed two victories at the Head of the Hooch and placed 17^th at the Head of the Charles Regatta.

"It's obviously an early season race, but it's built to tick all the boxes," said coach Copeland. "The results might not matter as much as a later season race, but the experience is what makes it a great event."

Following Oak Ridge, the Cards will face a challenging spring schedule that will see them head to the Pac-12 Challenge in Northern California on March 31-April 1 and face Michigan in a dual event on April 29. They will also travel to Clemson twice for the Clemson Invitational on April 14-15 and ACC Championship on May 13. The Cards are hopeful for a successful season as they return a veteran roster for 2018 that includes 16 seniors, including CRCA Second-Team All-American Kirsti Harrison and Rebecca Busk.

"It's going to be special because of everything we've worked for the past four years and we've finally seen some speed," said Busk, a two-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll. "It'll be exciting to see what we can do. With all of the obstacles we've had this year, it'll be great to see."

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Players Mentioned

Rebecca Busk

Kirsti Harrison

University of Louisville Athletics