April 3, 2010

 

Redwood City, Calif. – The No. 13 Wisconsin women’s rowing team competed in the first day of racing at the 23rd annual Pac-10 Challenge hosted by Stanford University on Saturday.

Both the varsity eight and the second varsity eight boats defeated No. 18 Oregon State but fell to No. 8 Washington. The Badgers will take on No. 4 Cal on Sunday on the 2,000-meter course running through the Redwood Shores community.

“The racing versus Washington went well,” head coach Bebe Bryans reported. “We lost a lot right off the start but were able to work back into their boats throughout the course of the race.”

In the afternoon races, Washington narrowly edged Wisconsin’s first and second varsity eight boats. In the first varsity eight race, unofficial times have the Badgers finishing in 6:51.8 with the Huskies posting a time of 6:49.7. The second varsity eight race saw Washington unofficially win in 6:51.3 and UW finish in 6:54.4.

“Both boats did some things better this afternoon than this morning [against Oregon State] but still have some issues to work out,” Bryans added. “Hopefully we will make some headway on those in tomorrow morning’s race against Cal.”

Official results from the races were not yet available but will be posted with the final recap of the Pac-10 Challenge following Sunday’s competition.

The Badgers conclude competition at the Pac-10 Challenge against Cal on Sunday. A weighted points system using the results from the order of finish in the varsity eight, second varsity eight, novice eight and varsity four races will determine the team champion of the Pac-10 Challenge.

Information on the Pac-10 Challenge, including Sunday’s schedule with lane draws, is available here. 

The Wisconsin lightweight rowing team and members of the openweight squad also competed in an exhibition event against Tennessee in Oakridge, Tenn. today. Read the full release here.