MADISON, Wis. — As the air gets a little warmer and the sun shines a little brighter, the Wisconsin lightweight rowing team knows this can only mean one thing: it's time to compete.

With spring training behind them, the Badgers have tuned things up in preparation for the season and open up competition this weekend at the Knecht Cup in West Windsor, New Jersey.

"We'll race everyone that we're going to see at the national championship IRAs," head coach Dusty Mattison said of the season opener. "It'll be a good baseline to find out where we stack up against everyone."

Entering her second year at the helm of the varsity squad, Mattison looks to build on last season's success through high expectations, both for her athletes and herself.

"We want athletes to come in and really want to be a part of this team and contribute at a high level," said Mattison. "This year we've talked a lot about forming genuine relationships with each other and even in the last couple months it's changed tremendously. You can feel the shift when that happens, when people aren't as nervous to just be themselves."

In her first season as coach of the varsity lightweights, Mattison saw her squad achieve a handful of impressive accolades, highlighted by a lightweight four national title at the 2016 IRAs. 

"This year we have a much smaller senior class; we only have three. But they've done a great job at getting everyone focused on a common goal," said Mattison. "We want them to be excited to race whomever and have the desire to put together the best performance for each other, no matter who they line up against."

The Wisconsin varsity lightweight eight claimed six Knecht Cup titles from 2007 to 2013. Since then, the Badgers have struggled. Last season, Wisconsin claimed a trio of third-place finishes, sparking a revival in the program under Mattison's direction.

Both a former UW rower and assistant coach herself, Mattison offers a unique perspective on the program she helped develop and places an emphasis on the value of its history in relation to her current squad.

"Winning a national championship is always really exciting," explained Mattison. "But we've talked a lot about the history of our program which, surprisingly, a lot of the team didn't understand. We weren't always a national championship program and so we took it back a few years from that first national championship and talked about what was built during that time and how we're similar to that group.

"I've been with the program for a very long time so I was able to speak about it from personal experience. I've seen it happen and this group is in an amazing position. The big thing we're focusing on is the legacy that they can leave as a group and changing the program back to that solid foundation that we had for such a long time."

As the competition clock winds down and the Badgers make the trek to Mercer Lake next weekend to open the season, the chance to leave a mark on the program is not something they take lightly.

For some, they've spent years contributing to the program's legacy. For others, next weekend signals the beginning of such an opportunity.

Regardless of where each individual stands, there's no doubt that as a collective group they possess the tools to build an unforgettable season.

If this team is anything like the first national championship-winning squad that Mattison drew comparisons to, then perhaps next weekend marks the start of another opportunity up for grabs.

One to make history.