When the Texas Longhorns take the waters of Lady Bird Lake on Saturday to face Big 12 foe Kansas, spectators will be witnessing an undefeated first varsity eight-boat squad.
Texas began intercollegiate play last weekend at the Longhorn Invitational and did not disappoint. Their first varsity eight-boat, referred to as 1V, finished the weekend with a perfect record of 4-0 highlighted by a defeat of No. 19 Wisconsin. Last year, NCAA qualifier Central Florida, Duke and Iowa were also victims of the 1V squad.
The second varsity eight-boat, referred to as 2V, and first varsity four-boat combined to go 5-3, punctuated by clean sweeps of Duke and Iowa. Overall, the Longhorns totaled 15 wins in 24 races.
"We've had no surprises," Graves said. "We've had high hopes after watching the girls row and those hopes we had were realized [last weekend]."
Saturday, the Longhorns will shift their focus to Kansas where Graves expects another solid performance.
"I would like to see better times in the 1V and 2V," Graves said. "We've always been a little faster [than Kansas], but they are always competitive and have a good
program."
After strong showings in the Heart of Texas and Longhorn Invitational, Graves expects her team to push it even harder, saying, "We have to get faster."
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