Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Ohio State, Michigan State (Scrimmage)
Fall Season Wrapping Up for Indiana Rowing
11/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
Nov. 16, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana rowing team has enjoyed a busy fall season as the team has competed in several events including the Princeton Chase and scrimmages against some of the top teams in the country.
On Sunday, Nov. 15, the Hoosiers scrimmaged against full squads from No. 7 Michigan State, No. 10 Ohio State and the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 crews from Dayton in Columbus, Ohio, on the Scioto River. Indiana's Varsity crews did five six-minute pieces with a stroke rate cap of 30, while the Novice crews did three six-minute pieces with a stroke cap of 18, followed by a seven-minute piece.
In the Varsity events, the Spartans won all five pieces with the Buckeyes, followed by Indiana and Dayton. In the Novice events, Indiana won three of the four events over Michigan State, OSU and UD.
"This was a great experience for our student-athletes," said Indiana head rowing coach Steve Peterson. "On the Varsity side of things, we knew coming into it Michigan State was going to be fast. We knew that from facing them two weeks ago at Notre Dame. But what we were excited about was the fact that we were in contact with Ohio State for much of the workout in all three Varsity crews. The Buckeyes were definitely able to find another gear and move away from us in the last part of each of the pieces, but we were never really out of the pieces. That is something this program has not done before against top-10 opponents.
"The results definitely proved that the team is moving in the right direction, but we still have a lot of work to do over the winter," said Peterson. "The student-athletes need to be able to find that next gear like Michigan State and Ohio State did during the workouts, so that we are no longer just trying to hang with these crews, but instead trying to move away from them. It is easy to just say they should do that when they are racing, but it definitely takes practice to develop that skill and confidence. So focus will be on increasing our power per stroke - which comes with a greater emphasis on lifting and higher intensity, as well as continuing to create a more competitive environment for the student-athletes' to deal with on a daily basis. As the athletes become more comfortable with performing in competitive and pressure situations, they will then be able to perform more effectively on race day.
"As for the Novice, they performed great for a second time this fall," Peterson said. "I think the top Novice crew really stepped up to make a statement that they expect to be in the hunt for a Big Ten Championship in the spring. The lone loss of the day for them came on a controversial call, which said they were impeding the progress of the other crews part way through the piece. The result was they had to move over out of the way and Michigan State was able to get through them in the last minute of the piece. Regardless of that, the IU Novice was definitely the class of the Novice field Sunday. Now the key is for them to carry that momentum into winter training."
The Hoosiers have one more week of on the water practice, which will culminate in the annual Class Races on Saturday, Nov. 21, at Lake Lemon. Crews representing each of the academic classes will face off to find out who the fastest class is. In each of the past two seasons, each year's senior class has been the race champion. There will also be several crews made up of alumni who will return to participate in the racing.
Following the Class Races, the Hoosiers will take a winter training trip to Tampa, Fla., Jan. 2-9.
"Winter training is a critical time for all crews and is essentially who is going to be fast in the spring," Peterson added. "So although every coach and rower likes to win all of their fall races, winter training is a long critical time in the life of a rowing program and a lot can happen during that time. Time and effort in the weight room and on the ERG's is what will ultimately determine who the champions will be in the spring."
