The Texas Longhorns women’s rowing team finished as runner-up at the 2026 Southeastern Conference Rowing Championship on May 10 at Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Tennessee won the conference title with 79 points, while Texas followed closely with 75 points. Alabama and Oklahoma placed third and fourth, respectively.
The close competition was decided in the final race of the day. “Obviously, we didn’t have the results we wanted today, but I’m proud of the effort every on the team gave,” Texas head coach Dave O’Neill said. “Tennessee did a terrific job, and they’re deserving SEC Champions. It came down to the final race, which is the way it should be. It was a terrific race, and they were simply faster.” O’Neill also said, “We’ll regroup and get better from here. While disappointments and losses never feel good in the moment, it’s times like these where the most growth happens. We’ll learn from this and move forward, and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”
Texas secured two wins out of five races during the championship event—the Second Eight and First Four—while finishing among the top two in every race entered. The Third Four started off with a runner-up finish for Texas with a time of 7:21.558; Tennessee took first place in that event.
Other highlights included strong performances by Texas boats across all categories: The Third Eight finished second behind Tennessee; II Four placed just under two seconds behind first-place Tennessee; I Four claimed an open-water victory; Second Varsity Eight clocked another win for Texas; while I Eight narrowly missed out on victory to Tennessee in their concluding contest.
Under Coach O’Neill’s leadership, Texas has now recorded a top-two finish at each conference regatta throughout his tenure—including ten conference championships so far.
Looking ahead after this narrow loss at SECs, O’Neill expressed confidence that his team will use this experience for future growth.
