Imagine this: It's not yet dawn on Lake Mendota and you have been sitting in a boat, soaked to the bone, for more than an hour and a half. The temperature is a brisk 40 degrees-not including the wind chill factor--which is slapping across your face with the force of a paddle in the water. After two hours, you are finally finished and the only thing you want to do is sit where it's warm and shower before class.
But there is a problem-there is no heat, no shower, not even a place to go to the bathroom. Instead, you are forced to retreat to tents placed on muddy land next to the water.
This is not an dream for the UW men's and women's crew teams who, for the past 14 months, have rowed to high national rankings despite such practice conditions, an unimaginable feat in the world of crew.
However, Monday marked the substantial completion date of the new Wisconsin Crew House, which will be officially decorated prior to the Midwest Rowing Championship April 22, 2005.
According to Senior Assistant Athletic Director Cheryl Bailey, the crew house was originally \drawn out"" more than 15 years ago. But progress stepped up in 2000.
""Four years ago, when I came on board, the fundraising campaign was just kicking off. Right after that the design came and the nuts and bolts were put together, probably last summer, "" said Assistant Athletic Director for Business John Jentz, who also served as crew's sports information director from 2000-'03.
The old crew house, built in 1967, was demolished to make room for the facility, located at the end of Babcock Drive next to the Lakeshore dorms. It is 52,000 square feet and cost a total of $8.35 million to complete. Fundraisers brought in $2.2 million and the rest was bonded through Athletic Department finances, Jentz said.
Though the old crew house served the team well for more than 36 years, the rapid expansion of women's rowing and the ever-increasing competitive rowing environment evoked a vision for a new facility, said men's Head Coach Chris Clark, who expects his team to move into their new home right before winter break. He said he hopes to see improvment in his team.
""We need the training machines. Right now, there aren't enough for the men and women. It makes practice difficult because we are always making compromises,"" he said. ""It is a top facility and it will hopefully raise our game. It's like when you stay in a fancy hotel and you don't put your feet on the table. We won't be running out of tents like a family of nomads. We'll be cleaner-like choir boys in church.""
Clark also said he used to work out 400 times a year when the team had a crew house, and since the old one was demolished, his work-outs have significantly decreased. UW women's Head Coach Bebe Bryans shares Clark's sentiment, expressing sympathy for her team that currently rows in the Field House.
UW rowers also praise the new facility because they have waited over a year to get back into a building, and look forward to its enhancement of their performances.
""Obviously everyone is pretty excited,"" senior Varsity Eight coxswain Mike Lucey said. A Massachusetts native, Lucey left the East Coast and its cornucopia of top crew colleges to compete at UW because of the program's tradition.
""It is going to raise our attitude and help us improve at least 50 percent. Not only will we be able to shower and go to the bathroom and get warm, but now we once again can allocate top high school recruits,"" he continued.
Wisconsin has had a continued tradition of excellence, and now its facility will be ""the premier facility in the country,"" Jentz said.
He also mentioned that Wisconsin is the only Midwest school with such tradition and now its building is comparable to Harvard and Princeton, two of the top rowing universities. The University of Washington and University of California, the other top public rowing schools, are also in the midst of building new houses.
Added technology includes a rowing tank, a pool of water that holds up to 24 athletes and has water motions that make it seem like the rowers are on a lake. It is the ""crown jewel"" in the country, Jentz said. However, every aspect of the new crew house will help all those involved.
""All we wanted was a place that was comfortable, and we got this top facility,"" Clark said. ""Basically, it will float everybody's boat.""
