This weekend saw Wisconsin host the women's Big Ten rowing championships on Lake Wingra and the women's lightweight rowing team travel to Indianapolis to face Stanford, Georgetown and Ohio State. Unlike last season, the Badgers had trouble with their conference foes and finished the competition in fifth place.
Minnesota won the championship with a meet record 150 points compared to the 87 Wisconsin earned. The top five was rounded out by Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin coach Bebe Bryans' former team, the Michigan State Spartans.
Wisconsin's first varsity eight consisting of Bailey Thompson, Maggie Galloway, Theresa Shields, Denise Kragness, Susan Masterson, Sarah Wrenshall, Stephanie Koepp and Kirsten Kuhn had a time of 6:11.2 in their grand final race to earn a fifth place finish.
The Badgers novice boats fared slightly better. The second novice eight completed their race with a time of 6:28.5 and finished second to the Michigan Wolverines in their grand final race. The first novice eight came in second to Minnesota with their time of 6:30.9.
The only race the Badgers won was the second varsity Eights Petite Final. Their time of 6:10.9 edged out second-place Iowa by 3.5 seconds.
Wisconsin's first varsity four qualified for the grand final but finished in fourth place out of the four competitors. They finished 14.4 seconds back of the winner, Minnesota, with a time of 7:14.7.
The second varsity four came within 3.4 seconds of winning their grand final, but a time of 7:03.7 was not enough to get past Minnesota.
Iowa finished sixth and Indiana finished seventh in the overall competition. Indiana could only muster 33 points while Iowa managed 49.
UW began the competition by qualifying every boat for grand final competition except for the second varsity eights. With near perfect weather the Badgers were looking to build on the success they achieved at the Midwest Rowing championships.
The second four boat was crewed by Meghan Roh, Sophie Hochschild, Robyn Laatsch and Katherine Guerra was very successful in their qualifying race, winning with a time of 6:57.65, seven seconds ahead of their next closest competitor.
After their first four grand final races Wisconsin was sitting in second place but fell behind later in the day.
The Badger's top ranked lightweight crew took two of their four races at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis.
The novice eight rowed especially well winning the grand final with a time of 7:17.1. They were racing against novice openweight boats from Purdue and Ohio State.
The lightweight varsity eight posted a time of 6:56.9 in their grand final win, 3.1 seconds better than Stanford.
Wisconsin's lightweight varsity four finished third in their grand final race behind Georgetown and Stanford.
The lightweight rowing team will compete next weakend in the EARC Championships in New Jersey. The openweight women's crew team's next race will be the NCAA Central/South Regional in Oak Ridge, Tenn., May 12-13.
