The Wisconsin men's and women's rowing teams were in action this weekend and both teams posted solid results.
The varsity and second varsity teams competed in the Stanford Invitational in Redwood City, Calif., Saturday and Sunday. In what is becoming a normal occurrence for the men's varsity team this season, the boats from Madison were the first to glide across the finish line in each race the Badgers competed in.
In the dual-style regatta meet, the first and second varsity teams first took to the waters against the rowers from Washington Saturday morning.
The varsity race featured two of the top teams in the country, and it was the No. 2 Badgers who won the race in 5:40.2—two seconds in front of the Huskies, who crossed the finish line in 5:42.9.
The second varsity team also rowed a solid race, finishing in 5:46.3, but fell short to Washington, which finished with a time of 5:42.0.
On Sunday, Stanford Cardinal hosted the meet. The UW varsity team defeated the No. 8-ranked Stanford, finishing in 5:44.13, while the Stanford rowers finished in 5:51.52.
The second varsity also took home a victory, finishing in 5:54.13, 10 seconds in front of the Stanford boat, which finished in 6:04.47.
Meanwhile, back in Madison, the third and fourth varsity teams along with the freshman teams were in action against Minnesota, and the teams from Madison swept all five races Saturday.
The conditions at Lake Mendota were perfect for the racers and spectators, as smooth waters and warm sunshine made for a comfortable Saturday morning—a welcome contrast to last weekend, when the team had to postpone a race due to stormy and choppy conditions on the lake.
The UW third varsity boat won its race in 6:06.5, in front of Wisconsin's fourth varsity boat and Minnesota's first varsity boat. The results were similar in the other races, with the Wisconsin boats soundly defeating the competition from Minnesota.
Christopher Stiles was a rower on the second freshman boat and said it was nice to get out on the water against some competition. He said the meet was good preparation for the rest of the season.
""We're looking forward to racing Dartmouth, BU and MIT in two weeks and following that up with a strong performance at Eastern Sprints,"" Stiles said.
Stiles said racing at home on smooth waters was a positive experience. ""You get out there and you know the lake well ... It's nice to have water that's rowable. Last weekend it wasn't, but this weekend was pretty close to perfect.""
The men will be in action again May 2 at the Cochrane Cup/Jablonic Cup in Blue Island, Ill.
Women's
Although the varsity and second varsity men were in Redwood City, the UW women's rowing team was competing in Gold River, Calif., at the Lake Natoma Invitational.
The No. 9 lady Badgers also made a habit of winning Saturday, taking victories in each of their six races. The varsity eight won their morning race with a time of 6:32.44, defeating the boats from UCLA and Texas.
The team's impressive Saturday performance qualified them for the top group of racers Sunday, along with No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 California.
The varsity four finished its race in 7:25.54, barely missing out on the victory to California, who finished in 7:23.94.
Overall, the women finished third out of the field of nine teams, ahead of No. 19 UCLA and Big Ten rival No. 20 Minnesota.
Next up for the women is the Big Ten Championships May 2, located this year in Columbus, Ohio.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
