The Wisconsin women's rowing teams had a successful weekend racing against some of the top teams in the country. The openweight women's team came in second at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., while the lightweight team held their own against Princeton, the No.1 team in the country according to the U.S. Rowing Collegiate Coaches Poll.
Bebe Bryans, the women's openweight head coach, said she was very pleased with the team's performance. Leading up to the race, Bryans said she wanted the team to perform to the best of their ability and see where they stood at that point in the season.
We expected to race well, and we certainly met our expectations. We tied our best finish ever at Big Tens with a second place finish. Pretty much every boat stepped up. It sounds cliché, but today it was the truth,"" Bryans said.
The Badger's second varsity boat beat Ohio State by less than one second with a time of 6:46.40, while the first varsity boat placed third in their heat in the preliminaries. Although the first varsity boat did not make it to the finals of their race, Bryans said the rowers were happy with their time of 6:29.20.
""They made some huge strides, showing a big difference today in the way they raced today versus what they have done in the past. It was a great effort, a turning point for them,"" Bryans said.
The openweight second four boat placed second behind Michigan State, and the first varsity four finished fourth. The novice team was also instrumental in the Badger's second place finish, winning both the first and second novice eight races.
Miles away in New Jersey the women's lightweight team showed they can hold their own against the top women's crew squad in the country. Though the first varsity boat did not beat Princeton in the dual regatta, they led for the first portion of the race and came in just shy of five seconds behind Princeton with a time of 7:11.6. The second varsity boat for Wisconsin did win, and handed Princeton's second boat their first loss of the season with a time of 7:10.8.
Lightweight Head Coach Erik Miller was happy with how the race went, and said ""we're still making great improvement.""
He said the performance of the second varsity boat highlights the depth of talent on the team and the coaches will be testing out different race lineups in the upcoming two weeks of practice.
""We have some different combinations to try going into the Eastern Sprints in the next few weeks,"" Miller said.
The next race for the lightweight team is the Eastern Sprints on May 18. The openweight team will race May 17 and 18 in Oak Ridge, Tenn. at the NCAA Central/ South Sprints.
