Women's Rowing Opens with Milwaukee River Challenge
September 20, 2003 | Women's Rowing
The Wisconsin women's openweight and lightweight programs opened their 2003 '04 racing seasons at the Milwaukee River Challenge, Saturday on the Milwaukee River.
The Badgers raced five eight boats and six four boats with a mixed lineup of both openweight and lightweight rowers. Taking advangtage of good racing conditions with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, Badger boats finished second, third and fifth in the women's eight. Iowa's top boat won the 4.4-mile race in 23:39, while Wisconsin's top boat was second in 23:48. WIsconsin C was third in 24:13, while UW's E boat was fifth in 24:45.
In the women's four, Iowa again won the race. Wisconsin finished second and third, in front of Iowa's B entry. Wisconsin boats also finished fith, sixth, ninth and 10th.
The Milwaukee River Challenge is a unique event with boats racing 2.2 miles one way on the Milwaukee River. The boats then turn around and race back to the start line. The times for the two legs are totaled and the winning boats is that with the lowest cummaltive time.
'The Milwaukee River Challenge gave the lightweight and openweight teams an opportunity to get to know each other in a racing situation,' head coach Maren LaLiberty said. 'We were a bit disappointed with our performance in the women's four, however we were more focused and aggressive in the women 's eight race. We were enthusiastic about the fact that our first Wisconsin boat finished in second place, nine seconds behind Iowa, even though we had put together five evenly matched boats.
Wisconsin returns to the water next weekend in an alumni regatta on Lake Mendota. The Badgers compete again intercollegiately on Sunday, Oct. 12 at the Head of the Rock in Rockford, Ill.
