Despite having to change courses halfway through its home opener due to rough wind conditions on Lake Mendota, the No. 2 UW Men's Rowing team still took all seven of its races Saturday morning against the No. 14 Oregon State Beavers and the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines.
One of the few races that took place on Wisconsin's usual course was the varsity eights race, in which Wisconsin built on its early season success by posting an 11.5-second victory over Oregon State and nearly 30 seconds better than Michigan.
Due to the bad water, Wisconsin's race plan was simple: Get ahead early and let the other crews try to make a comeback in water conditions that made doing so almost impossible.
\The water was terrible, probably the worst water we have ever raced in on our home course,"" said senior varsity stroke Paul Daniels. ""We knew in this type of water you have to get up right away, so we really pressed in the first 500 meters to get a lead and make them work through the rough water.""
Wisconsin executed its race plan almost perfectly; with a clean start the Badgers had open water on the other crews by the 600-meter mark and never looked back. But, as expected, conditions on the racecourse grew worse toward the finish, limiting the Badgers from pulling away and extending their lead as much as they would have liked.
Junior two seat of the varsity boat Alex Cockerill said, ""We moved out on the boats at the start, then, at about 500 down, the water started to hit us and we started moving out again, but it was more of a gradual walk. But you have to remember that the water affects everyone, not just us.""
After finishing second in the nation at last year's IRA National Championships and nearly beating No. 1 California last month, the Badgers have set the bar high for themselves. While they might not have put as much distance between themselves and the other boats over the last 1000 meters, they are happy to come away with a victory over two strong crews. But due to the rough water and the fact that this race comes early in the season for a team that is landlocked during Wisconsin's cold winter months while their competitors on the East and West coasts get valuable water time, the Badgers knew they just had to get through this race.
For the remainder of the races, the crews moved to Burrows Park on the east side of Lake Mendota where more favorable water conditions could be found. Still, the results remained the same, most notably in the junior varsity and freshman eights races, in which both boats won by more than a length.
All in all, it was just another successful day for one of Wisconsin's most successful yet unheralded programs. They will look to continue their winning ways next weekend on the home waters of Lake Mendota against the No. 3 Washington Huskies.
