Indiana University Athletics
IU Rowing Continues Successful Fall Campaign
11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
Nov. 7, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - On Sunday, Nov. 7, the Rowing Hoosiers traveled to Indianapolis to take on in-state rival Notre Dame. The Irish came into the scrimmage fresh off a third place finish at the Head of the Rock, while the Hoosiers are just back from their successful outing last weekend at the Princeton Chase. Last spring, the Irish finished the season receiving votes in the national top 20 rankings. During that season, they rowed to a 1.5 second win over the Hoosiers in the Varsity 8 in their only race of the spring.
Conditions for the scrimmage were less than ideal. Although the temperatures picked up into the mid 50's, so did the winds as 10-15 mph winds buffeted the course making it windy and choppy for the rowers. The format of the scrimmage were five, 5-minute pieces with a stroke rating cap of 30 strokes per minute.
The crew of the day for Indiana was the Second Varsity 8, who bettered their Irish counterpart on all five of the pieces. Typically rowing a stroke or two under the 30 stroke maximum, the Hoosiers were able to stay long and composed and row away from Notre Dame in each of the pieces despite the waves and wind. It was a great showing for the crew and proves there will be a lot of competition for the top IU boat as the spring season approaches.
Both the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 crews traded pieces with the Notre Dame opponents. The Varsity was able to win the first and last pieces, while the Irish won the middle three.
"I definitely think the size and power of the Irish crews showed today," said Head Coach Steve Peterson. "Any time you have conditions like these, the bigger and stronger crews have an advantage, especially into the head wind pieces. But with that said, I think for the most part, our Varsity did a great job handling the conditions. This IU Varsity crew is a much better technical crew than we have ever had here before at IU. However, we are not a big crew in terms of size and power. So in conditions like we had today, it is critical that we stay composed and disciplined and row effectively. Otherwise we give any technical advantage that makes us a good crew."
"I definitely think the rowers learned a lot from today's workout, and we should be able to really build upon those lessons for next week," added Peterson. "This was the third good result for our crews this fall and I am very excited about how things are headed. We are far ahead of where we have been in past fall seasons, and even a little father ahead of where I expected us to be at this point this season. I think it is a real tribute to the work the student-athletes have done over the summer and since the start of this year. They have been working really hard and I am proud of their effort each and every day."
On Sunday, Nov. 14, the Hoosiers will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to scrimmage against two nationally ranked Big Ten powers in Michigan State and Ohio State. In addition to these crews, Notre Dame will also be racing in the Varsity events. This will be the final scrimmage of the 2010 fall season for IU.
