Season Preview: Rowers st(r)oked for Spring

Season Preview: Rowers st(r)oked for Spring

April 06, 2018 | Men's Rowing

No. 12 Badgers open spring season with race at No. 10 Syracuse

MADISON, Wis. – Following a 2017 campaign that culminated in an 11th place finish at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships, the Wisconsin men's rowing team look to continue the upward trend this spring.

Last season featured several promising numbers for Wisconsin. Although the Badgers wrapped up the 2016-17 campaign a spot behind their 10th-place finish in the 2016 IRAs, the 2017 championships saw Wisconsin's varsity eight jump a whopping eight spots from its previous finish of 19th place, taking 11th. The Badgers also registered top-10 finishes in the third varsity eight and the varsity four.

After closing out a successful fall campaign, the Badgers, who checked in at No. 12 in the 2018 preseason rankings, will begin their quest to the 2018 IRA championships with a race against No. 10 Syracuse this Saturday in New York.

Past races between the Badgers and the Orange have proved to be evenly matched, and this Saturday's meeting should be no different.

"All of the races we've had against Syracuse in the last year have been close, like less than a second," head coach Chris Clark said. "I would expect, hope in fact, that is the case on Saturday."

For the Badgers, who have grown accustomed to the choppy waves and rough weather that accompanies April in Wisconsin, this weekend's trip to the Empire State will offer different rowing conditions.

"As usual, unlike Syracuse that has a protected river/canal that provides them consistent water earlier in the season, we put in the docks this week on Mendota. Being a northern school, that's the reality and some rough rowing with little finesse is generally what we get for much of April. Depending on our guys and their experience level, that can be just enough but sometimes it isn't. We'll see Saturday."

This Saturday's racing is set to begin at 7 a.m. CT, with a live stream scheduled for the facebook page of Syracuse rowing at https://www.facebook.com/CuseMensRowing.

Probable Lineups:

Varsity Eight
Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Tristan Amberger, Nickolas Montalvo, Andrew Griffin, Jonah Van der Weide, Kyle McCarthy, James Bernard, Jacob Wenner, Thomas Walker

Second Varsity Eight
Coxswain Ian Tunney, Dylan Adams, Tyler Stevens, Nathan Petersen, Kurt Mueller, Adam Wehking, William Alt, Alexander Butler, Andrew Flannery

Third Varsity Eight
Coxswain Kaz Kishiue-Koval, John Hollow, Evan Miller, Christoph Bub, Philipp Bogdanov, Jacob Hurlbutt, Benjamin Waller, Henry Roberts, Jacob Buboltz