Even though the weather is warming up in Madison, the women's rowing team will head out west to California this weekend for competition in the Windermere Cup.
This will be the first time the Badgers have ever participated in the event, and they will get a chance to go up against some of the best teams in the country. Stanford is hosting the 20-team event, but the Badgers will only meet three teams on the water.
On Saturday morning, Wisconsin will face off against last year's Windermere Cup champions, California-Berkley. According to Wisconsin head coach BeBe Bryans, California was ranked No. 1 for most of the season last year but had a disappointing sixth place finish at nationals. So far this year the Bears have a three-race sweep under their belts against British Columbia, capturing their third-straight Jessop-Whittier Cup at the annual San Diego Crew Classic.
Shortly after the Cal race, UW will go up against host Stanford Saturday afternoon. Bryans also commented that last year was an offseason for them since some of their rowers were working with the Olympic team.
Finally, Wisconsin will meet Washington on Sunday, who is nationally known for its rowing programs.
With competition like this, Bryans knows that her squad might not be favored to make a mark this weekend.
\We're expected to not win a race,"" Bryans said. ""But nobody knows because we haven't really raced anybody yet.""
Technically the team has participated in one race, the Longhorn Invitational over spring break, but this was their first day in the water since January. At the Invitational, the first varsity eight boat clocked a time of 6:43.6 while the second came in at 6:49.5. Since then, the team has gotten more time on the water and has solidified spots on the two varsity eight boats and the varsity fours.
""We have good depth,"" Bryans said. ""We have really, really good depth, so really the challenge is going to be believing in themselves enough to test that. I believe absolutely that they can compete with anybody.""
This belief in her team has come quickly for Bryans, since this is her first year with the team. Her coaching career includes most recently a seven-year stint at Michigan State, five years at Georgetown and has worked with multiple USA National teams.
Bryans now hopes to continue her illustrious career at Wisconsin and despite what outsiders might say about how her team will fare this upcoming weekend, she strongly believes that this team can help her achieve that goal.
""I think we can be really competitive, I think we can win but what I think is sort of irrelevant,"" Bryans said. ""I'm the coach and the one that's training them; they're the ones that motivate themselves. If I could be in there it would be different. It's breakthrough time and I think this crew can do it. We're in the big time now and they need to go and if they go, they can compete with anybody and I believe that until they prove me otherwise.""
