In the final 500 meters of Kansas University’s first varsity eight rowing race against Kansas State on Saturday, the Jayhawks closed a six-foot gap and finished 1.2 seconds ahead of the Wildcats.

That victory at Burcham Park gave Kansas the points it needed for the 10th annual Kansas Cup. K-State had won the cup two straight years and held a six-point lead entering that final race. KU won, 12-10.

“That was one of those very few-and-far-between finishes. That’s an awesome feeling,” said senior Jelayna Da Silva, who was one of the eight rowers. “It’s kind of like angels come along, pick you up and move back. You just dig deep and find it and go.”

The finish was something Samira Naji, the senior coxswain of the crew, hadn’t experienced in her four years at Kansas.

“I can definitely say I’ve never had a race like I did,” Naji said. “Coming from behind, you never know if you can push hard enough to win, and the way they pushed, we’ve never raced like that – ever.

“We made a move halfway through the race, and that took us up about half a boat length. They just kept going with us and going with us, and I think we took up the sprint just right on time, just a little bit before they did, and I think that’s what made the difference.”

That last push brought out the emotions of the crew, winners of the race and the Kansas Cup.

“I think we all started crying the last four strokes because that’s when I knew, and I think when the girls heard my voice they knew it too,” Naji said.

Seniors Lindsey Miles, Tiffany Jeffers, LlynnAnn Laugesen and Tricia Sawtelle helped power the winning boat, along with juniors Kara Boston and Elisheva Patterson and sophomore Carrie Selden.

“I think we came through, and it really showed that we’ve got a pretty experienced first eight with a lot of seniors in there, and without much racing this year they really came through and had a strong finish,” Kansas coach Rob Catloth said. “This race is always a tight race every year. It goes back and forth every year. … With the scoring, it’s always a team effort, and from top to bottom we just have to really be on it and do the best we can.”

Kansas' novice eight boat pushes toward the finish line. K-State won the race, but Kansas won the dual and the Kansas Cup, the first time the Jayhawks have earned the cup since 2004.

The Jayhawks’ varsity four ‘B’ boat of Catlin Curtis, Brooke Castrop, Hailee Jones, Kahheetah Barnoskie and Callie Owen held off K-State – and the KU ‘A’ boat – in the previous race with a time of 5 minutes, 46.5 seconds.

Kansas’ novice four – with Jenny Leuck, Kaitlin Squier, Britany Strohl, Kelly Miller and Lindsey Warren – was 5.9 seconds in front of Kansas State with its time of 6:59.7.

The second varsity eight had a trio of seniors – Ashley Broockerd, Whitney Fasbender and Annie Sims – anchoring the boat, but its time of 6:02.8 was 10 seconds behind the K-State boat.

It was still a perfect finish to the seniors’ years of rowing on the Kansas River. They last won the cup their freshman year.

“It was pretty amazing,” Naji said. “We come to this day not knowing what’s going to happen, and everybody’s pretty pumped, but when you go on the water things just change. … It’s nice to end it with the cup, that’s for sure.”