The University of Alabama rowing team looks to continue the success it found in an early start to the season last week as it heads to Oak Ridge, Tennessee this weekend for the Cardinal Invitational.

“Any chance we get to race early, it is going to give us a better idea for what we want to do this week,” coach Larry Davis said. “This weekend we are rowing against people that have been to the NCAA’s and been National champions… So having a chance to sort a few things out and maybe get a few things under out belt that we need to do in a racing situation is really important.

The Crimson Tide women will be led into competition Saturday and Sunday by a group of seniors who have used where the program used to be as aid in bettering their team.

“I am very very excited to see how the seniors do,” senior Kendall Scullion said. “They have been working really hard and where we started in Northport with the team back then to the team now, we have so much depth, beautiful facilities, and it makes us and the underclassmen work harder.”

Women’s rowing at Alabama is not only competing for results in the water, but to see a change on how students, faculty and people in Tuscaloosa view the sport.

“It is one of the hardest sports out there,” Scullion said. “Honestly, it takes such an inner fortitude that a lot of people wouldn’t expect, but you also can’t move the boat without unity.”

To get the program the recognition it wants, Davis said the team needs to continue to improve in order to get people out on Saturday to watch it compete.

“People get excited about people that are going out and being successful,” Davis said. “I would like for people to come down to the river and watch them race because once you’ve seen it and been involved in it, you find that there are a lot of things that are exciting about it. There is excitement with our girls going flat out for roughly six-to-seven minutes.”