Indiana and Louisville had to battle the difficult water conditions as well as each other Saturday morning. |
Varsity Four Defeats Louisville In First Home Event Of The Season
March 22, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - On Saturday, the Indiana women's rowing team had to battle not only the 20th ranked University of Louisville Cardinals on Lake Lemon but also the rough waters. A cross-tailwind made for extremely difficult rowing conditions over the second half of the 2000 meter course.
As a result, just the Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight competed on the full course, with the Varsity 4 and Novice 8 races being limited to a pair of three and a half minute pieces, with only finishing places being recorded.
In those Varsity Four pieces, the Hoosiers were able to concentrate as a group and come out on top in both races, defeating the Louisville entry as well as the Louisville Novice Four boat. Rowing for Indiana in the Varsity Four was first-year coxswain Bliss Cook, freshman Becca Shoemaker, first-year rower Christina Hauger, sophomore Megan George and junior Stephanie Horvath.
"The real high point of the morning was the Varsity four winning both races against Louisville," Indiana head coach Steve Peterson said. "For such a young and inexperienced crew, they handled the conditions well throughout each of the races and the results showed that. I was really proud of their racing; they represented IU really well."
The Novice Eight boat also raced the pair of three and a half minute pieces and came in second to the Cardinals in both.
In the Varsity Eight race, Louisville held a small early lead, but as the boats made it to the rough water on the course, the Cardinals were able to keep it together to get the win, finishing in 6:36.9 while IU posted a time of 6:47.7.
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The Second Varsity Eight was also able to get off to good start and stay with the Cardinals, even holding a one boat length lead halfway through the course. But again, the rough water proved to be too much for the Hoosiers and Louisville rallied to win by less than three seconds. Louisville's final time was 6:53.0 and Indiana crossed the line in 6:55.7.
The two Varsity Eight boats struggled to adjust to the difficult conditions, but were able to accomplish the smaller team goal set this week in practice Peterson said afterwards.
"This week the goal was to improve on our racing starts," Peterson said, "so that way 500 meters into our race, we know we should be right with anyone in the country. So even though we lost the races this weekend against No. 20 Louisville, we achieved that. In all of our races, we were either with or ahead of Louisville, so our starts are going well. It is important to remember that even though we lost the race, we achieved he main goal for the week - getting a fast start."
But Peterson also attributes some of the problems adjusting to the conditions to a lack of time the team has been able to spend on the water so far this spring. Despite having had two races already, the Hoosiers have only been able to get out on Lake Lemon for practice 10 times.
"It is very important for the athletes to keep focused on the small weekly goals they have," Peterson said, "and not to get too caught up in winning or losing each week. If they can do that, we should have a solid race plan that will get us from start to finish as fast as possible in time for the Big Ten and NCAA Central Region Championships.
"The key thing is that we know we are in great rowing shape. All of the time and effort the athletes spent on the rowing machines and with the strength coaches has really paid off. We are stronger than we have ever been. Now all we have to do is learn how to translate that to boat speed. With more time on the water we should be able to do that."
After a week of practice this week, the Hoosiers will return to Lake Lemon to welcome Eastern Michigan and Dayton. Check back with IUHoosiers.com later in the week for the race schedule and start time.
