Final regatta of season pits top teams in twisting race

The Hoosiers have been busy this week preparing for their final regatta of the fall season, the Head of the Elk Regatta in Elkhart, Ind. They are coming off of an impressive showing at the Head of the Charles and four victories at the Head of the Eagle last weekend. The Hoosiers are looking to build off of those strong performances.\n"We had a really good race at the Charles," sophomore Kelly Schuiling said. "We were up there with Wisconsin and that's really good. This weekend, having extra training, we can do a lot better than at the Charles. We are confident even though we will be seeing Michigan and Michigan State for the first time."\nCoach Mark Wilson said that the team has a lot of confidence heading into the Head of the Elk.\n"We've got to take the confidence from last weekend and move forward," Wilson said. "The Head of the Elk is a much simpler course so we can focus on rowing with more power and technique. We need to go after the top teams and just use our confidence from last weekend."\nThis weekend's regatta is a head-style race that is 2.75 miles long. It is a simple course without any big turns,unlike last weekend, where the courses featured more twists.\nLast year at the Head of the Elk, the Hoosiers placed fourth in the open 4 A race and also placed fourth in the open 4 B race. The novice 8 A finished fourth in its race while the novice 8 B placed first. The varsity 8 placed fifth in the open 8 race. Michigan State won the open 8 race last year with a time of 13:31.\nNovice coach Angela Leone said she wants her boats to stick to the game plan.\n"I want them to row at the stroke rating I give them," Leone said. "I want them to stick to the race plan regardless of how they are doing in the race. We cannot affect how another boat rows, we can only affect how our boat rows."\nSenior Erin Koers is a rower in the varsity 8. She said she expects her boat to do well this weekend.\n"I'd like to place top three or top five," Koers said. "We want to compete better against some of the Big Ten crews and the Midwest. We want to make a statement"\nThe Hoosiers will see many quality crews this weekend including Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan State.\n"Both Michigan and Michigan State went to NCAA's last year," Wilson said. "We will be keying in on Purdue as well. I want us to do as well as we can. That's all we can hope for."\nThe competition begins at 8 a.m. Sunday.