OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University hosts the Head of the Oklahoma Regatta, which traditionally signals the start of the Stars' rowing season, on Saturday and Sunday at the Oklahoma River.
The Head of the Oklahoma, in its 17th year, gets under way at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Night sprints happen 7 p.m. Saturday at the venue that held the first night races in the nation in 2006 with a fireworks display marking the end of the night.
In 2021-22, OCU delivered top performances in its postseason races, the International Rowing Association Championships and the Dad Vail Regatta. The Stars posted among the top 17 in the men's varsity four in the IRA Championships on June 4 in Princeton, N.J.
Oklahoma City matched its most victories in the Dad Vail Regatta with gold medals in the women's collegiate single and the men's collegiate double May 14 in Philadelphia. Ruthie Lacy earned the Dave McCormick Trophy with her victory in the single, and Taylor Broussard and Dawson Rogers took the other event.
The Stars added a third-place showing in the men's heavyweight four. Boris Dimitrijevic, Nikola Uveric, Aidan Moriarty, Andrija Simeunovic and coxswain Sarah Tyree comprised the OCU crew.
"This year we are working to create a high-performance environment as we see how fast can we be as a team," said OCU coach Cory Conzemius, in his second year at the helm. "This atmosphere of working hard while having fun has allowed our team to find some early-season speed, and we are looking to test that speed this weekend. Our home regatta will be a good checkpoint as we work towards the Head of the Charles later this month."
TOP RETURNERS
• Lacy, a junior from Oklahoma City, became the third Star to capture the women's collegiate single in the Dad Vail Regatta, known as the biggest collegiate regatta in North America, with her time of 7 minutes, 47.306 seconds. Kathryn Schiro nabbed the 2011 title, and Liz Mathews boasts of being a three-time champion of the event (2013, '14, '15). Lacy also took third in the event the previous year. She represented the United States in the World Under-23 Championships in the lightweight women's double in July at Varese, Italy. Lacy and Grace Keen teamed to finish third in the women's lightweight double in the 2021 IRA Championships. Lacy established world records for 17-18-year-old lightweight rowers on the ergometer for 1-minute and 4-minute intervals in fall 2020
• Broussard, a junior from The Woodlands, Texas, combined with Rogers to take the double in the Dad Vails with their mark of 6:51.946
• Moriarty, Simeunovic, Tyree and Uveric return from last season's heavyweight four boat. Simeunovic, a senior from Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia, sat in the stroke seat in the IRA Championships
NEW FACES
• Kyle Brown has arrived from Sydney, Australia to provide Oklahoma City with experience as a sculler and a bowsider. "Our freshmen have brought a new energy to our team, and we are looking forward to seeing their impact as we go through the year," Conzemius said
• Elias Dahl followed Conzemius to OCU from Wisconsin. Conzemius mentored Dahl, a freshman from Madison, Wis., as well as Jack Austin and Moriarty with the Camp Randall Rowing Club in Madison, Wis. Dahl served as the team captain
• Keaton Knopp joined the Stars after being team most valuable performer and team captain for his high school crew. Knopp, a freshman from Oklahoma City, is the son of Mike Knopp, who introduced rowing on the OCU campus and in the community
• Corban Melder, a freshman from Austin, Texas, became a member of the Stars after competing as a power lifter and a football player in high school
• Laura Muse, a freshman from Yukon, Okla., looks to shore up the port side of the Stars' boats. Muse makes her OCU debut in the women's open novice single at 9:30 a.m. Saturday
THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE
• Lacy competes in the women's collegiate single at 8:55 a.m. Saturday
• Nine Stars take part in the men's collegiate single 8:10 a.m. Sunday
• The Stars have entered four boats in the men's collegiate pair at 10:30 a.m. Saturday
• OCU has three entries racing in the men's open double 10:10 a.m. Saturday
MEET THE COACH
• Conzemius came to OCU from the Camp Randall Rowing Club based in Madison, Wis. Conzemius directed two of the club's crews to medals in the US Rowing Youth National Regatta, where the men's pair took the national title in Sarasota, Fla.
• As head coach at High Point University, Conzemius' men's pair crew captured the American Collegiate Rowing Association title
• The Gainesville Area Rowing set a club record when five crews made the 2018 USRowing Youth National Regatta under Conzemius' direction
