Members of the UWM AFSA Panthers team pose before their first 2017 Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival race on Saturday, Aug. 12, at Lakeshore State Park. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Safety first! Captain Chia Youyee Vang adjusts her lifejacket in preparation for the team's morning race at the Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
The team, loaded into the boat with the help of race volunteers, prepares to leave the dock. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
With team captain Chia Youyee Vang at the helm, the team rows out to the race's starting line. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Dragon boats require unity between the drummer at the bow, who keeps time for the rowers, and the sweep, who steers from the boat's stern. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
UWM's AFSA Panthers led for part of their morning race before finishing second in the heat. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
The AFSA team catches its breath after the excitement and hard work of the race. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
The team celebrates finishing the first of the day's three races. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Back at the dock, UWM's AFSA Panthers prepare to debark. The team would race two more times during the day, finishing fourth in its division with a team-record time. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
The team from UWM’s Asian Faculty and Staff Association delivered its best-ever performance Saturday in the 2017 Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival, held at Lakeshore State Park.
The UWM AFSA Panthers reached the finals of the Pearl Division, the festival’s third-highest tier, with a team-record time of 1 minute, 15.48 seconds. That was good for fourth place in the division and 20th overall out of 53 boats.
AFSA Panthers team members, decked out in T-shirts celebrating UWM’s research and Graduate School, included more than two dozen faculty, students, alumni and staff from throughout campus. The team was captained by UWM history professor Chia Youyee Vang and competed in the race for a fourth consecutive year.