What was a welcomed change for KU was going with the wind instead of against it, though, as the Jayhawks won five of seven races running with a slight tail wind and tail current. A good sized crowd watched in Burcham Park from the banks of the Kansas River as KU won three of the four varsity races and two of the three novice races.

“We raced hard the entire time,” senior Beth Olson said. “We didn’t let Tulsa or Drake sit. We went after them on every stroke.”

Tulsa was the only squad not clad in crimson and blue to cross the finish line first.

“It’s just one more race for us to build off of,” junior Kristy Hainer said.

Kansas opened up its spring campaign March 27 in a home dual against Texas, and the Longhorns took four of five races with both teams running into a strong headwind during the whole race.

“It’s kind of like running uphill compared to downhill,” said senior Sarah Smith of rowing against the wind.

Kansas opened the event by winning the Varsity 8 race with a time of 6:09.6. Olson, Smith and Hainer were part of that group.

Kansas coach Rob Catloth thought the biggest difference between Saturday’s meet and the meet against Texas was more practice after training during spring break.

“I think we made a lot of improvements,” Catloth said. “I think we raced better just by having more water time. We’re still getting our bodies ready to handle the racing, but everybody raced real hard.”

Kansas will close its home schedule Saturday against Kansas State and Cincinnati in the Kansas Cup.