Spectators lined the north shores of Lake Wingra to watch the Wisconsin Badgers' rowing teams win every race they entered at the Midwest Rowing Championships on Saturday, and were rewarded with two of the fastest performances in school history and also the of the 31-year old regatta.
The elements truly played a major factor in the competition as temperatures began in the low 40s, climbing into the middle 60s with slight head winds for most of the racing.
Around 3 p.m., winds picked up slightly and shifted to the southwest, becoming a tail wind for the last part of racing. However, throughout the day, the water remained flat for all races.
Wisconsin's No. 3-ranked varsity eight set a new course record in the men's varsity eight race when they blazed down the 1,850-meter course in 5:14.40.
The Badgers' crews took the top five spots in the race, with St. Cloud State and Creighton taking sixth and seventh in the final.
The record-setting crew included coxswain sophomore Mike Lucey, senior Paul Daniels, senior Beau Hoopman, senior Dan Mueller, junior Micah Boyd, senior Peter Giese, senior Mike Niemczyk, junior Alex Cockerill and senior Peter Nagle.
One of the most anticipated races came in the men's open four event where the UW squad split up its varsity eight and second varsity eight into four boats. Wisconsin B, with coxswain Lucey, Mueller, Hoopman, Daniels and Micah Boyd, won the race in 5:54.65 to set the second course record of the day. A 1984 Rockford open four entry held the mark at 5:55.10.
On the distaff side, the Wisconsin varsity openweight eight won its 29th women's open eight in 31 tries with a 6:07.50. The lightweights won their own eight race with a time of 6:29.50 over Wisconsin's novice lightweight eight, which crossed the finish in 6:53.79.
