The No. 15 Wisconsin men's rowing team raced by border-rival Minnesota Saturday, winning all four races. With the victory, the Badgers remain undefeated on Lake Mendota.
\It was a successful day, and we are happy with the results,"" head coach Chris Clark said. ""With racing Michigan last week and Minnesota this week, we make a point to support and race as many of the local Big Ten teams as we can, which I think is the right thing to do. It was nice for both Michigan and Minnesota to come race us.""
Wisconsin jumped on the Gophers from the start as the varsity eight bested Minnesota's octet by 8.5. It was Wisconsin's varsity eight's first win of the season.
The Wisconsin crew composed of sophomores Andy Kaufman, Matt Donoghue, Ben Szymanski, juniors Mike Tupek, Tom Velarde, Jim Murphy, Mike Miller and senior Chris Podbregar were led by senior coxswain Mike Lucey, finishing with a time of 6:08.3 to Minnesota's 6:16.8.1.
In the second varsity eight races Wisconsin's second and third teams proved the Badgers home-lake dominance, as UW finished one-two in times of 6:07.7 and 6:19.6, respectively. Minnesota finished in 6:43.3.
The Wisconsin freshmen eight also had a strong showing, finishing with a time of 6:18.8 to beat the Minnesota freshman squad's time of 6:27.6.
Wisconsin completed the sweep in the fourth and final race, as UW's fourth varsity eight finished in 6:18.5, besting the Badgers' second and third freshmen eight and Minnesota's third varsity/second freshmen eight.
The race was a good prep for the Midwest Rowing championships next week, held annually on Lake Wingra. Next Friday is also the official public unveiling of the newly crew christened Porter Boathouse.
""Next week we have the Midwests and that should be exciting and fun,"" Clark said. ""After that, we begin our East Coast portion of the season, which is without question our most difficult part, so we need to get ready for that.""
-Compiled from staff reports.
