The Wisconsin men’s rowing varsity eight, ranked No. 3 in the nation, head to New Hampshire Saturday to race in the Cochrane Cup on the Connecticut River against Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Head coach Chris Clark said this regatta has special meaning for the Badgers.

“This event has been contested since around 1961,” Clark said. “‘Historical’ might not be the right word but it is certainly what we do.”
Every three years Wisconsin hosts the Cochrane Cup.

At last year’s meeting of these three teams, Wisconsin swept all three events: varsity eight, freshman eight and the second varsity event. The varsity eight had a time of 6:12.43. The freshman eight finished with a time of 6:26.50, and the second varsity clocked in at 6:22.22.

Junior Ed Newman said the team is doing fairly well.

“We had a really good showing in California two weeks ago,” Newman said.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves though. We know that there is a lot ahead of us and there is still a long way to go [to get to the national championship].”

Wisconsin’s varsity eight finished with a time of 6:06.21 at the Stanford Invitational in California, defeating No. 4 California.

Despite limited time on the water earlier in the spring because of ice on Lake Mendota, Wisconsin has shown improvement this spring season and is trying to get faster as a team.

“There is a four-letter word in rowing and it is fast. You are always working on getting faster. This crew in particular has a top end which is important for a 2,000-meter race,” Clark said.

Clark said that it is one thing to have endurance, but the team is not going to get the results or win the races they want to win if they cannot finish the last 400 to 800 meters faster than their opponents.

The varsity eight crew is led by the stern pair, junior Ross James and junior Grant James.

The Badgers made a jump in the latest USRowing college poll, going from No. 6 to No. 3, just under No. 2 Brown and No. 1 Washington. The crew team is not too worried about their ranking, however. They are more concerned about starting and finishing each race well.

“It is a long process to see who can do what. [We’re] not worried about ranking yet,” Ross James said.

Wisconsin will have to leave immediately after the regatta Saturday to head to Boston to compete in the Jablonic Cup on the Charles River. There they will be competing against No. 15 Boston University.

At last year’s race, the varsity eight won with a time of 5:55.3, and the second varsity eight also won in 6:01.7.
The varsity eight is versatile, and many of the rowers have abilities for each seat in the boat that make Wisconsin a threat.

With the continuous improvement from the sophomores coming up into the varsity boat, the Badgers are looking at a successful and fast rest of the season.