Callie at the Catch: Always moving forward

Whitewater, Wisconsin, native Callie Herbert is back and giving regular updates again this year from Porter Boathouse and wherever else rowing takes her and her teammates. A four-time swimming state qualifier in high school, the senior stroked the varsity eight to 11th-place at the 2017 NCAA Championships.

MADISON, Wis. -- Early Thursday morning, 4 a.m. to be exact, we left the boathouse knowing we were prepared for the big event, Clemson Invitational. We unfortunately missed a week of racing due to weather conditions, so we were more than ready to get out there and compete again.

Apparently Wisconsin was not the only state getting hit with some weather, which made us move up racing to Friday night. Luckily, we were still able to race all three races, just moved around a little bit. It was an overall fun, positive and exciting time. Each boat had great races as well as races to learn from and this is how we keep making progress. But, nothing compares to our novice eight who raced for the first time ever! A true novice eight that raced in the 3V category since the Big Ten conference is the only one to have novice races.

Freshman Carissa Witthuhn talked about her experience racing for the first time.

"Our first race at Clemson was interesting, to say the least. Our whole boat was made up of true novice walk-ons and it was our first official race ever! To say I was nervous would be an understatement. While we were lining up for our first race, you could feel the nervous yet excited tension in our boat."

"Not even 20 strokes into our first 2K race, our boat went silent. Georgia's, our coxswain, cox box broke. So, it was a silently painful 2K. Luckily, it all happened in the blink of an eye."

Having a cox box go out changes a race whether you want it to or not. This is what enables the rowers to hear the coxswain calling moves, meters and everything else. You have to stay extra focused on following and be extra mentally strong. So yes it plays a huge factor, but it did not phase this boat full of novices on their first race. They handled it like true veterans and took control of the race.

Witthuhn continued, "overall, the Clemson Invitational was super fun and I am really grateful for the opportunity to go. Our boat developed so much over the course of the weekend and we learned that racing is exhilarating. I am very excited to race again at Big Ten's and see where this team goes. Go Bucky!"

We know we will take what we learned and get ready to make some changes this week in practice. We are always moving forward and enjoying the process as we go. We know where we are, know where we want to be and know how to get there. Everything is looking good for us, except maybe the amount of snow we were handed.

As the weekend came to a close, it only became even longer as weather hit again. Our flight was delayed three hours, but we made it back home safe at 5 a.m. Monday morning. But there is no one else I would rather be stuck in an airport with than this team.

University of Wisconsin Athletics

Callie at the Catch: Always moving forward

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