As one of the most tradition laden and, cryptic sports on campus, rowing is often ignored by the majority of the school. For the athletes, however, rowing transcends sport and becomes a lifestyle.
Rowing at UW began in 1878 as a club sport and became a varsity sport in 1892. It is the oldest varsity sport on campus and the program has produced countless world champion and Olympic athletes.
Rowing in general and at Wisconsin has changed over the years to cater to as many people as possible.
In the past 30 years, rowing has shifted from an elitist and predominantly testosterone-driven endeavor to the savior of universities desperate to fill the quota for Title IX sports. Before Title IX there were seven schools that had crew as a varsity sport for women; today there are more than 120.
The men's team has remained a constant at UW through all of it. Nearly lost entirely along with the baseball team during the budget cuts of 1991, the early to mid-'90s were not \banner years"" for UW crew. After winning a national title in 1990, UW lost some of its national prominence with several dismal showings at the national championships.
Over the course of the past five years, the men's team has had a renaissance of sorts.
At the Eastern Sprints, UW has claimed five titles over the past two seasons; in the previous 50 years they had won two total. At the Inter-Collegiate Rowing Association regatta, or IRAs (the national championship in rowing), Wisconsin won three straight and four of the past five Ten Eyck team points trophies.
The Badgers have made a routine of showing up at the IRAs and destroying the competition in the four man events, winning 12 of the past 16 four-man events there.
These merits deserve a disclaimer, however'the real glory of rowing, many would argue, comes from winning the ""glamour"" event of rowing: the varsity eight race. Wisconsin's last national title in a varsity eight came in 1990.
""We're out-talented not with bodies; but with experience,"" Head Coach Chris Clark said. ""We've got the bodies, the problem is [the competition] is more savvy and more skilled than we are.""
For UW to get to the next level (i.e., the upper tier of rowing colleges in the country) something will have to change.
""It's worth it to add that we are the sole sport at Wisconsin without scholarships, the only one out of 23,"" Clark said.
Excluding the Ivy League, UW crew is the only program not to offer scholarships for its rowers; every other program of national prominence has scholarships.
The latest chapter in Wisconsin men's rowing started this past Saturday morning on Lake Mendota, as the sixth-ranked UW varsity eight defeated the University of Michigan and Oregon State University after five months of training indoors on rowing machines and running countless steps in Camp Randall.
The Badgers used the weekend race to get their sea legs back and to test themselves against two of the better rowing squads in the country. No. 8 Oregon State was an intriguing match up, as they had tested third-ranked University of Washington the weekend before in San Diego, Calif.
Wisconsin charged off the starting line and never looked back, winning the race by over a length of open water, and leaving the Wolverines and Beavers to flounder in Wisconsin's wake.
This weekend the Badgers are traveling out West. Saturday the Badgers go to Seattle to compete in the W Cup. The W Cup is an annual dual meet in which the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington compete.
Wisconsin has never won the event, and will have to row very well if they hope to hang with the Huskies.
Currently, Washington is ranked third in the country and has only lost to one team'top ranked University of California-Berkeley. The Golden Bears squad that Wisconsin will face Sunday in Redwood Shores, Calif., simply put is very good.
They have not lost a varsity eight race in three years and are the three-time defending national champions. Wisconsin will have to be on their ""A"" game to even compete with them.
""Beating either of those crews at this time would be a major upset,"" Clark said.
Clark is not being a pessimist; once a team gets the lead in a rowing event they usually keep it.
Unlike a football game where the team that is losing has an hour to catch up, in rowing the races last approximately six minutes.
Once a team has a lead, they have the clear advantage of being able to see their opponents and watch as they struggle to catch up. Wisconsin has had its successes lately, but like any team they want more.
""We are the only team in the country that can boast five gold medals at the Eastern Sprints the past two years, but we are still unhappy and we should be,"" Clark said.
