While Mifflin Street may have been the center of action for many UW students this past Saturday, the men's and women's rowing teams were in other parts of the Midwest, competing in important late-season meets with some impressive results.
The men's rowing team, ranked No. 1 in the country, captured both the Cochrane and Jablonic Cups at the Cal-sag Channel in Blue Lake, Ill. The rowers from Madison continued to string together victories, which have led to their top ranking, winning every race of the meet.
The first set of races took place in the morning, with the Cochrane Cup going to the Badgers. The Wisconsin varsity eight boat, going against No. 13 MIT and No. 18 Dartmouth, was the first to cross the finish line. The team completed the 2,000-meter course in 6:04.4, three seconds ahead of the crew from MIT, who finished in 6:07.2.
With one of the two cups in their possession, the Badgers returned to the water in the afternoon, this time racing for the Jablonic Cup against Boston University, ranked No. 10 in the country, and again the boat from MIT.
The Wisconsin boat finished the race with a time of 5:54.8, with the closest opponent, Boston University, completing the course in just over six minutes. Though they won the race comfortably, the boat from BU gave Wisconsin some close competition for much of the race.
""Boston University is magnitudes better than they've been lately. It was very close for a while, but we were fortunate to be able to move out,"" said head coach Chris Clark. ""We won by 5.8, but Boston University was very tough.""
The second varsity and freshman teams for Wisconsin were also in action at the meet. Following the lead of the varsity boat, both teams won each of the races they competed in. The second varsity boat notched a win in the afternoon against BU, when the Badgers finished in 5:55.8.
The men's team now heads into championship season. The EARC Championships will be held in Worcester, Mass., on May 10, and the team will finish its season at the IRA National Championships in June.
Women's rowing
The UW women's team went west to Columbus, Ohio for the Big Ten Championships. The 14th-ranked women finished in fourth place overall. No. 3 Michigan State, No. 5 Michigan and No. 7 Ohio State finished first through third, respectively.
The morning races resulted in some very strong finishes for the Badger squads, including four wins. The varsity four, second varsity four, novice eight and second novice eight teams all claimed victories in the morning against their Big Ten competition.
The novice eight boat finished their race in 6:28.167, just two seconds in front of the boat from Michigan. The varsity four boat had a similar result, beating their competition from Michigan by a two-second margin, with a 6:58.389 finish.
The varsity eight and second varsity eight boats from Wisconsin were just short of taking victories in the morning, with both crews finishing in second place behind the boat from the host school, Ohio State.
The grand final races took place in the afternoon, when Wisconsin grabbed three more victories in the six races. The novice eight, second novice eight and second varsity four boats from Wisconsin were all first across the finish line, each taking home the Big Ten title. The novice eight boat again beat out their competition from Michigan, finishing the race in 6:21.478.
The varsity four boat took second place behind Ohio State, and the varsity eight and second varsity eight boats both earned fourth-place finishes.
Individual awards were also given out at the meet, where three of the Wisconsin women were recipients. Seniors Theresa Shields and Maggie Galloway received first and second Team All-Conference Awards, respectively, while senior Brittany Renault received a Sportsmanship Award.
The Badger women row next in the NCAA Central/South Regionals, which will take place on May 16 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
