As the Wisconsin women's openweight rowing team heads into a rare spring weekend without a race, head coach Bebe Bryans reflected on her team's season thus far, the long-overdue spring weather and the special group of athletes that make up this year's team.
The team this year is young, with only nine seniors on a squad of 42 rowers. Last weekend, Wisconsin competed in Columbus, Ohio, at the Big Ten Double Duel, where they won 10 out of their 12 events against Ohio State and Indiana. Though Bryans was happy with her young team's performance, she said the experience reminded them to be ready the second their blades hit the water.
They were just more ready in the afternoon than they were in the morning. And some of that is experience in racing, but we're to the point now where we need to be ready to go on stroke one of piece one, and hopefully that's what we learned from this weekend,"" Bryans said.
The nine graduating seniors are the only girls left on the team who rowed for Wisconsin before Porter Boathouse opened in December of 2004. As a small senior class on a team of talented underclassmen, Bryans said the girls could have flaunted their seniority over the rest of the squad. However, she has nothing but good things to say about her graduating class.
""They are a great leadership class, and they are very highly respected by the rest of their team and have set a great example for next year's seniors.""
According to Bryans, the seniors this year are just one component of a team with a lot of depth. She said the team is strong, and that strength has come out in the races between the openweight four boats and their Big Ten opponents.
""This team right now has had four years with this coaching staff, and I think we're ready now. I think this group has a lot more speed in it ... Hopefully we'll find it, or we'll bring it out. We know it's there, we know we've seen it. It's just a matter of getting it to come out at the right time,"" Bryans said.
A good time for the strength and speed of the team to come out is May 3 at the Big Ten Championship regatta in Ann Arbor, Mich. Bryans said Michigan State will be Wisconsin's best competition because they have been consistently fast so far this season. Bryans is expecting Wisconsin to be competitive at the Big Ten Championships, but says the race is really ""a matter of who is ready on that day.""
After the Big Ten Championships, the women's team will have two weeks to get ready for Central Championships and then the NCAA Championships. Wisconsin will use the time to mix up boat lineups and test novice rowers in varsity boats to make the fastest possible combinations for the remainder of the season.
""For Central Championships and for NCAAs we will have the fastest people [rowing] regardless of their class,"" Bryans said.
Bryans is proud of her team and the effort and patience they have shown throughout the exceptionally long winter training period. She feels the rest of the season is about having fun, working hard, producing results and enjoying the time on the water.
""We're just keeping our heads down and getting some work done,"" Bryans said. ""People can think we're fast or not think we're fast, we don't really care. We'll do what we do on the water.""
