BARABOO, Wis. -- The third-ranked Wisconsin women's lightweight rowing team, joined by the UW openweight women's and men's rowing teams, competed at in the Big Ten/ Big 12 Invite on Saturday at Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo.
 
The lightweights competed alongside the openweight women from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas, while the men's squad raced against Marietta and Milwaukee School of Engineering.
 
"Today was amazing just because we got to have all three teams here together," UW head coach Dusty Mattison said. "That was a treat for the parents as well.
 
"For the kids who are from this area, to have their parents come or family come to be able to see them, and for some kids it's their one race during the year, to have that be a home race is really special."
 
In the morning second varsity eight event, Wisconsin placed third with a final time of 7:15.527, getting edged out of second place by one tenth of a second. The boat came back strong in its afternoon event, putting up a time of 7:30.976 to place second behind the UW openweight boat.
 
"In the morning, the second varsity eight had a really nice body of the race and then got squeaked out by Kansas at the end," Mattison said. "They were a little disappointed with that, but were really happy to come back in the afternoon and gain some speed on them and come in second for that race."
 
The first varsity eight placed third in its morning event, posting a time of 7:17.497 in somewhat of a rough start to the day.
 
"The morning was a little bit disappointing," Mattison explained. "They were just kind of spinning their wheels and trying to do it all by themselves instead of as a unit. We learned from that and came out in the afternoon with a much better performance, so we were really happy with that progress.
 
"They get a little tense and kind of have this extra energy that they sometimes don't know what to do with. We actually have thought of some ideas of how are we going to burn off that extra energy so we can set ourselves up the best."
 
The Badgers returned much more composed in their second race of the day, placing third with a 7 minute, 24.197 second final time behind the openweight Badgers and Kansas.
 
The Badgers raced a varsity four boat for the first time this spring season, posting a final time of 8:12.507 to claim third place.
 
"The four that just raced today for the first time, they did an excellent job as well," Mattison said. "First time down the course together, ever."
 
Wisconsin's novice boats got in on racing action this weekend as well, as the second novice eight posted a final time of 8 minutes, 9.640 seconds to come in second behind Iowa. In its afternoon race, the second novice boat placed second, behind the openweight Badger boat, with a final time of 8 minutes, 10.970 seconds.
 
Wisconsin's third varsity boat competed in the novice eight morning event alongside the novice lightweight boat. The 3V came in third place with a final time of 7:42.463, followed up by the novice boat in fourth place with a 7 minute, 45.734 second final time.
 
"In the morning for the third varsity eight, they did awesome," Mattison said. "For their first time out together, a great race down the course."
 
The novice eight returned to the water for the afternoon events, placing second with a 7 minute, 36.477 second run down the racecourse.
 
With only two racing weekends left in the season for the lightweights, though spaced out over a month, Wisconsin returns to Worcester, Massachusetts for the Eastern Sprints on May 1.
 
Big Ten/Big 12 Invite
April 23, 2016
Devil's Lake
Baraboo, Wisconsin
2000 meters
 
Race 13: Varsity Eight
1. Iowa, 6:55.132; 2. Kansas, 7:10.246; 3. Wisconsin Lightweights, 7:17.497
UW Lineup: Coxswain Audrey Dalgarno, Brianna Wynne, Jennifer Kish, Kathryne Ruffalo, Stephanie Meder, Janet Titzler, Helena Randle, Agathe Denis, Julia Glueck
 
Race 31: Varsity Eight
1. Wisconsin, 7:00.809; 2. Kansas, 7:21.485; 3. Wisconsin Lightweights, 7:24.197
UW Lineup: Coxswain Audrey Dalgarno, Brianna Wynne, Jennifer Kish, Kathryne Ruffalo, Stephanie Meder, Janet Titzler, Helena Randle, Agathe Denis, Julia Glueck
 
Race 11: Second Varsity Eight
1. Iowa, 7:00.743; 2. Kansas, 7:15.421; 3. Wisconsin Lightweights, 7:15.527
UW Lineup: Coxswain Eleanor Martin, Mackenzie Whiteside, Mirha Girt, Ariel Tallo, Marilyn Garberg, Gabriela Purman, Amanda Aiello, Jenn Whitehill, Emma Landauer
 
Race 29: Second Varsity Eight
1. Wisconsin, 7:11.114; 2. Wisconsin Lightweights, 7:30.976; 3. Kansas, 7:31.925
UW Lineup: Coxswain Eleanor Martin, Mackenzie Whiteside, Mirha Girt, Ariel Tallo, Marilyn Garberg, Gabriela Purman, Amanda Aiello, Sydney Stiener, Emma Landauer
 
Race 27: Varsity Four
1. Wisconsin, 7:43.587; 2. Kansas, 8:06.133; 3. Wisconsin Lightweights, 8:12.507
UW Lineup: Coxswain Tenzin Khangkar, Jenn Whitehill, Christina Stevenson, Olivia Meehan, Sonja Liljegren
 
Race 5: Novice Eight
1. Iowa, 7:20.370; 2. Kansas, 7:38.428; 3. Wisconsin Lightweights 3V, 7:42.463; 4. Wisconsin Lightweights, 7:45.734
UW 3V Lineup: Coxswain Tenzin Khangkar, Claire Kelley, Christina Stevenson, Olivia Meehan, Sonja Liljegren, Sydney Stiener, Megan Gannon, Elianna Emerson, Anna Leach
UW Novice Lineup: Coxswain Sarah Herman, Shannon Lipe, Madeline Bennett, Anna Dawley, Sara Hamilton, Payton James, Brianna Ohm, Stephanie Browne, Maureen Butler

Race 23: Novice Eight
1. Wisconsin, 7:13.211; 2. Wisconsin Lightweights, 7:36.477; 3. Kansas, 7:45.297
UW Lineup: Coxswain Sarah Herman, Shannon Lipe, Madeline Bennett, Anna Dawley, Sara Hamilton, Payton James, Brianna Ohm, Stephanie Browne, Jessica Sims

Race 1: Second Novice Eight 
1. Iowa, 7:40.599; 2. Wisconsin Lightweights, 8:09.640 
UW Lineup: Coxswain Katherine Kerwin, Alexandra Fochios, Jessica Sims, Hallie Gross, Jacqueline Jones, Katherine Gross, Emily Nguyen, Karissa Lange, Madeline Rowe

Race 19: Second Novice Eight
1. Wisconsin, 7:25.745; 2. Wisconsin Lightweights, 8:10.970
UW Lineup: Coxswain Katherine Kerwin, Alexandra Fochios, Jessica Sims, Hallie Gross, Jacqueline Jones, Katherine Gross, Emily Nguyen, Karissa Lange, Madeline Rowe