MADISON, Wis. – The 2019 Big Ten Rowing Championships are coming to Devil's Lake in Baraboo.

The oldest, largest and most visited state park in Wisconsin will play host to one of the premiere rowing events in the country on Sunday, May 19, 2019.

"It is really exciting," head women's rowing coach Bebe Bryans said. "It is something we've been working on for years. We believe it is a beautiful, great venue. The most important thing is the water conditions and we believe it will supply that. 

"The park is fabulous. For rowing it is fabulous. It is just long enough and just wide enough to do everything we want. It is surrounded by bluffs, which not only make the water good, but make for incredible viewing. You can see this race course from any part you want to see it from. There is room for staging. It is a little bit out there for location, but we've got the Wisconsin Dells really close by. 

"I think it is a fabulous venue and I'm really excited to show it off."

The 2019 Big Ten Championships will mark the third time since the start of Big Ten rowing began in 2000 that the Wisconsin women's rowing program will serve as the host school for the Big Ten championships. The previous two championships, in 2000 and 2007, were held on Lake Wingra.

The 2019 championships will also mark the first time the Big Ten rowing championships will be held outside of Indianapolis since 2010, when the event was held in East Lansing, Michigan, by Michigan State. That year, Wisconsin captured its first and only Big Ten rowing team title to date.

The eight-team Big Ten championships will mark the fourth women's rowing event to take place at Devils Lake since 2015. The Badgers' first event took place on May 2, 2015, with Michigan State and Minnesota competing. UW also raced there on Oct. 18, 2015, against Minnesota, and played host to the Big Ten/Big 12 Invite on April 23, 2016, with the Badgers, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa taking part. The Wisconsin men's team has also competed there several times since first racing there in 2012.

"We think it is the best body of water in the area," Bryans added. "We are working really hard to do everything possible to bring everything else up to at least as high, if not a higher standard than we've had the past few years. 

"It has been a buzz in the whole country for the last five or six years, but this will be the first time we've put on a big show, and Wisconsin doesn't do anything halfway. We are going to make sure it is the best."

Bryans on the help from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR):
"They are the reason we've been able to get this done. They have been so welcoming, so helpful and so positive that it has just been a joy to work with them. It is the best of all possible relationships and we couldn't even think about doing it without them. We are so grateful of them to work with us, not only in making it great, but just having fun with it and doing everything we can in having a positive impact on the park as well as putting on a great regatta."

Bryans on UW's support:
"The only way we can run this big of a regatta is with the help of our event management staff and our administration, so we are very grateful. This is not easy to have to travel 45 minutes to put in a whole race course, get everything we need up there to make it a first-class event. We couldn't do it without their help and support. It is a big deal. It is unusual and it requires a lot of boots on the ground for a one-day event."