Indiana University Athletics
IU Rowing Heads to Aramark NCAA South/Central Region Sprints
5/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 13, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana rowing team will travel to the Aramark NCAA South/Central Region Sprints for races on Melton Lake, May 15-16, in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in a series of 2,000-meter pieces looking to advance to the 2010 NCAA Championships at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center in Gold River, Calif., May 28-30.
"This weekend will ultimately determine who gets into NCAA's and so the mindset going into this is that we've been training all season for this race," said IU head coach Steve Peterson. "Everything is designed to compete in this race. One of the things that has been hard in the past two weeks is that between finals and the weather, it's been a little bit of a disruption in our normal training schedule. We've tried to work around that and everyone is excited to race. I think we have some good seeds heading into racing. Our expectations are high so I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to perform."
The Hoosiers open Saturday's morning racing in the Open 4 against Virginia's `C' crew, Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Alabama at 9 a.m. ET. IU's Novice 8 crew will race Kansas State, Wisconsin's `B' crew, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio State and Central Florida at 9:50 a.m. Indiana's Varsity 4 crew will race Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and Minnesota at 10 a.m., and the second Varsity 8 crew will race Kansas State, Central Florida, Ohio State, Tennessee and Southern Methodist at 11:10 a.m. The morning session for the Hoosiers concludes at 11:30 a.m. with the first Varsity 8 crew racing Tulsa, Louisville, Michigan State, Clemson and Dayton. Saturday's afternoon session is slated to begin at 2 p.m. with the Open 4 and Sunday's finals are scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
Indiana is familiar with the course on Melton Lake after posting a successful weekend at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships, April 17-18. The second Varsity 8 crew won its grand final in 7:11.60, topping Oklahoma (7:16.89) by more than five seconds on April 18. IU's Novice 8 crew also won its final when it defeated Alabama (7:20.10) by four seconds with a time of 7:16.10. In the first Varsity 8 grand final, the Hoosiers finished less than a second behind the Sooners (2nd, 6:55.09) for third place.
"We try and get familiar with the course and get familiar with our opponents," Peterson added. "We raced in the Southern Intercollegiate for a couple of reasons - one is that we see some teams that we're going to see this weekend and two, it gives us a chance to get comfortable with the course. Hopefully through the course of the spring racing season, you've got a pretty good idea of strengths and weaknesses relative to the teams that we're going to see this weekend. That's where we feel pretty confident. We did a pretty good job of trying to get a feel for our opponents and then what we need to work on."
