PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY TEXAS ROWING
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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Rowing announced its 2023-24 schedule on Thursday, highlighted by a fall regatta for the second year in a row and the return of the Longhorn Invite, which will feature many of the top programs in the nation. The eight-time defending Big 12 Conference champions will travel to Sarasota, Fla. for the conference’s championship regatta.
Texas will open the season up the freeway in Waco, Texas on Sunday, November 12 at the Waco Rowing Regatta, a 5K Head Race on the Brazos River. Hosted by the Waco Rowing Center along the banks of Brazos Park East, the course will travel from the bridges of downtown Waco to the bluffs of Cameron Park.
The spring season will once again begin with a “rust buster” in Dallas with a two-day dual against SMU on March 23-24 on White Rock Lake. It will mark the third-straight year Texas opens the spring slate with a scrimmage at SMU. The three-time defending American Athletic Conference Champion Mustangs finished ninth at last year’s NCAA championships, the best finish in program history.
Next up, the Longhorns head to California on April 6-7 for the California Crew Classic, regarded as America’s premier spring regatta. Racing is held in Mission Bay Park on the shores of Fiesta Bay-Crown Point. At last year’s classic, Texas swept through the prelims and finals on the way to winning four trophies, winning the Collegiate Varsity Jessop-Whittier Cup, the Collegiate Varsity 4+ Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup, the Collegiate 2V Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy and the Carley Copley Cup.
The next weekend, the Horns travel north to square off with Michigan on Saturday, April 13, the fourth consecutive year the Longhorns will meet the Wolverines in the regular season. Last year, Texas swept four races at home on Lady Bird Lake. The Horns won three of four races the previous year in Michigan with victories in the First Eight, Second Eight and Four. Michigan placed 11th at last year’s national regatta.
Texas will wrap up the regular season portion of the schedule by hosting the Longhorn Invite on Saturday, April 27. The invite returns after a one-year hiatus and will including many of the premier teams in the nation, including defending national champions Stanford, 13-time defending ACC champions Virginia and 10-time Big Ten champions Ohio State. Virginia place 10th at the 2023 NCAA Championships and Ohio State placed 12th at last year’s national regatta. The four programs have combined to win nine of the last 14 NCAA championships.
Texas will look to defend its conference crown when the Longhorns travel to Sarasota, Fla. for Big 12 Conference Championship on Sunday, May 19. The conference regatta will take place at Nathan Benderson Park, the site of UT’s 2021 and 2022 national championship victories. The Horns swept last year’s regatta, the eighth consecutive sweep of the Big 12 Championship, and had six student-athletes earn all-conference honors for the eighth-straight year.
The 2024 season will conclude at the NCAA Championships on May 31-June 2 in Bethel, Ohio on Harsha Lake at East Fork State Park. The Longhorns placed fourth at the 2023 national regatta, the program’s sixth consecutive top-4 finish and the eighth-straight top-8 result.
