Kansas and Texas each captured Big 12 Rowing awards for the 2023 season as voted on by head coaches. Kaitlin Knifton and Dave O’Neill collected Rower of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, for Texas while Katie Ustiuzhanina garnered Newcomer of the Year for the Jayhawks.

Knifton rowed at the stroke position for Texas and contributed to four first-place finishes and one second-place finish against ranked competition that consisted of No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Washington, No. 7 California and No. 16 USC. The graduate student also helped Texas’ 1V8 secure Boat of the Week honors after a dominant performance against then-No. 11 Michigan where the Longhorns won by over 11 seconds. The lone second-place finish came at the next competition when finishing runner-up to No. 1 Princeton by one second and three seconds ahead of No. 3 Yale.

Ustiuzhanina becomes the second Jayhawk in program history to earn Newcomer of the Year after arriving in January from Kyiv, Ukraine. Ustiuzhanina competed in a 5K just 11 days after her arrival in the United States and landed the second-best time in program history. In March, she competed in a 2K and set the program’s fastest time. She finished her first season with the Jayhawks competing in both the 1V8 and 2V8 categories.

O’Neill was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his nine years in Austin. The Longhorns swept the Big 12 Rowing Championship races to secure the Conference title for the eighth consecutive year under O’Neill. Texas has remained ranked in the top two all season including No. 1 in each of the first four Pocock Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Polls.
 
Big 12 Rower of the Year: Kaitlin Knifton, Gr., Texas
Big 12 Newcomer of the Year: Katia Ustiuzhanina, RS-Fr., Kansas
Big 12 Coach of the Year: Dave O’Neill, Texas