The Wichita State University rowing team will compete in its first race of the 2012-2013 season on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Oklahoma City University's Head of the Oklahoma race in Oklahoma City.

The race is part of the Oklahoma Regatta Festival that takes place Sept. 27-30.

The varsity and the novice crews will compete in the 4,000-meter head race. Other competing schools include the University of Kansas, the University of Texas, the University of Oklahoma and Clemson University.

For more information, go to http://www.wichita.edu/j/?1833.

The WSU novice men's eight team is the five-time defending champion, winning first place last year with a time of 15 minutes, 14 seconds.

"Everyone's going to pull hard and go fast," said four-year varsity men's rower Christian Kindel.

Kindel is an electrical engineering major from Wichita, and is expected to row in the six seat of the men's varsity eight.

The OCU Head of the Oklahoma also boasts the nationally recognized OGE NightSprints as part of the festival. The WSU Crew qualifies for several NightSprints each year, racing fours and eights.

The 500-meter sprints will be raced Saturday evening, followed by closing fireworks.

Other festival events include kayaking and dragon boat races, along with live music and food vendors.