Badger Women Open the Spring in Indiana
March 23, 2007 | Women's Rowing
The Wisconsin women's openweight rowing team will be opening their spring 2007 season this weekend as they travel to Bloomington, Ind. to face the Hoosiers of Indiana University.
The Badgers will take part in the dual meet as part of their first live competition of 2007. The Badgers have been training inside for most of the winter season, and look forward to competing outside.
The first rowing poll of the season was released last week, and the Wisconsin varsity eight found themselves ranked in 16th position. Ohio State leads the Big Ten as they are ranked sixth; Minnesota is 13th, Michigan State sits in the 14th spot and Michigan is 15th. The Badgers were only one point behind Michigan for 15th place. Fellow Big Ten school, Iowa, is currently receiving votes.
Last spring, the openweights finished eighth at the NCAA championships, earning the team 's highest finish in program history. The Badgers posted a solid performance on the final day as the second varsity eight took third in the grand final and the varsity four
placed second in the petite final.
The Badgers have eight seniors on this year's squad along with 12 juniors and 16 sophomores. Senior Katie Karls has the most experience of the bunch, as she has been a part of the varsity fours and eights since the 2003-04 season.
The team was able to find some open water in Janesville, Wis. recently, but other than that they have been cooped up inside on the erg machines. Over the winter vacation, the teams spent ten days in Cocoa Beach, Fla. where they were able to get on the open water rather than train indoors here in Madison. The teams spent plenty of time on the water, but the athletes were also given time to soak up the sun and enjoy the beautiful scenery around the Cocoa Beach area. After ten days, the teams wrapped up their winter training and headed home.
Taking a look at this coming weekend, the team will be racing someone other than their own teammates for the first time since mid-November.
Indiana has also been in training since November when they opened their new shell facility for the crew teams. The Hoosiers spent their winter break in Tampa, Fla. where the week was filled with training even in some poor weather conditions.
Indiana's head coach Steve Peterson is in his fourth year at the helm of the rowing program. Peterson directs the rowing program while working primarily with the women's varsity. He was named the second rowing head coach in Indiana history on Aug. 11, 2003, replacing former head coach Mark Wilson.
Hoosier senior, Betsy Hibbard, is in her fourth year at the head of the varsity squad. She coxed the varsity eight to a school record eight wins in 2005. She was also named to the Big Ten's second-team last season.
