SMU Women’s rowing team with a boat length lead on Creighton (Courtesy of Gary Leigh Smith)

Coming off their first victory of the season against Creighton. The Mustang rowing team will look to avenge their loss at the Longhorn Invitational from last year when they compete in Austin at the same event this weekend.

The Mustangs swept the Varsity 8+ races at their home lake, White Rock Lake, last week in the first meet of the spring.

In the first Varsity 8+ race, the Mustangs finished with a 15-second advantage and a final time of 6:53.4, the only time of the day that was under seven minutes.

SMU’s second Varsity 8+ almost had just as good of a finish, completing the course in 7:18.0 and securing the second win of the day for the Mustangs.

The Blue Jays, however, were able to secure two victories, defeating the Mustangs in the Varsity 4 and the Novice 8+.

In Austin this coming weekend, SMU will race head-to-head against the likes of Iowa, UCF and Texas on Friday and Saturday, before the final of the Texas event on Sunday.

The Mustangs and the Longhorns will be the first two boats in the water on Friday, when they face off in the first Varsity 4 competition at 4 p.m.

The Varsity 8+ crews will follow. The first 8+ crew will race at 4:10 while the second 8+ crew will come after at 4:20.

With the leadership of seniors Emily Carstens, Claira McElroy and Esther Kolkman, the first Varsity 8+ crew will look to continue their early success.

Carstens, McElroy and Kolkman are also joined by juniors Emily McCombs, Lauren Moore and coxswain Maggie Jones.

After the trip to Austin, the Mustangs will have a long amount of time off before traveling to San Diego in April.