SMU rowing will finish its regular season with a trip to Raleigh for the Lake Wheeler Invitational, which takes place April 24-25. The event is hosted by Duke and the University of North Carolina.
The Lake Wheeler Invitational is significant as it marks the final competition before SMU heads into postseason racing. It offers the team an opportunity to compete against a wide field of programs and assess their performance ahead of conference championships.
Racing begins Friday at 8:30 a.m. Central Time with the third varsity eight event. There are two sessions on Friday, with afternoon races starting at 1:15 p.m., and competition wraps up early Saturday morning. The field includes hosts Duke and UNC, along with Alabama, Boston College, Clemson, George Washington, Georgetown, High Point, Kansas, Lehigh, Louisville, Miami, Navy, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Tulsa, Villanova, Virginia and West Virginia.
In their previous outing at the Orlando Invite, SMU qualified for the “A” final in the third varsity eight on Friday with a time of 6:52.1 ahead of Duke and UCF before finishing fifth in that final. The Mustangs also outperformed Oklahoma in both second varsity eight races over two days and topped Oklahoma again in Friday’s first varsity four race. On Saturday’s first varsity four race they finished ahead of Clemson.
At the Sarasota 2K earlier this season SMU secured two first-place finishes on Friday in both first and second varsity eights while qualifying for four A finals out of five boats entered. They bested teams such as Boston College, Drexel, High Point, Tulsa, Miami, Dartmouth and Jacksonville during those heats.
Additionally this season one Mustang was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Preseason Watch List—a list that includes one student-athlete from each program nominated by their schools—with ACC being unique among conferences for having such a preseason rowing watch list.
Looking ahead after this weekend’s invitational SMU will return to Raleigh May 15-16 for its second appearance at the ACC Championship.
