OU Crew and Rowing test the waters

Women's eight rowing team at the Head of 

Oklahoma regatta. Photo courtesy of 

Soonersports.com

At 5:30 a.m. on weekday mornings, many University of Oklahoma students are still sleeping. Most student-athletes are even still asleep. The OU crew and rowing teams are at the Chesapeake Boathouse on the Oklahoma City River in Oklahoma City.

Unlike many sports at OU, the crew and rowing teams don’t have the luxury of on-campus facilities to practice. The disadvantage doesn’t end with having to drive north on I-35 Monday through Friday, but because of scheduling conflicts they have to practice from 5:30 to 7:30 every weekday morning.

The Rowing team is sponsored by OU but the mens and womens crew teams are not. The crew teams are club sports, meaning they have to pay dues every semester to pay for travel expenses, uniforms, boathouse fees and regatta entrances fees.

The crew teams are comprised of athletes many of whom have never rowed before coming to OU. Only one of the 10 men on the crew team had rowed before college.

Rustenhaven, who played football and baseball at South Grand Prairie High School in Texas, missed playing organized sports during his freshmen year at OU.

“It’s one of the best workouts I’ve ever done and I missed being part of a team and competing,” Rustenhaven said.

Aside from the rowers, coaches and others involved with the program have experience on the water.

Robin Urquhart works at the Chesapeake boathouse. Urquhart teaches basics and is a coxswain for a corporate program. Urquhart is also a coxswain for one of the men’s crew teams and unlike her Chesapeake boathouse duties; Urquhart doesn’t receive anything for her services with the crew team.

“I compete with the crew team because I love rowing and being in charge of the boat,” Urquhart said.

The team competed in their first regatta in Oklahoma City this weekend and will travel to Austin, Texas and Wichita, KS for their final two later this semester. The fall season is composed of 2.5 mile, 5000 meter, and 4000 meter races while the spring events are made up of 2000 and 500-meter sprints.

Map of the Head of Oklahoma regatta on the Oklahoma City River. Map courtesy of oklahomariverevents.org