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(06/12/06 2:29am)
The most accomplished rower to pull an oar for the cream and crimson has added another item to her athletic resumé. This achievement, however, is for the red, white and blue of the United States.\nLaura Lazaridis, IU's first and only two-time All-America rower, is attending the Under 23 National Training Selection Camp June 5-29 at the University of California in Berkeley. \nShe is one of two dozen rowers vying for a spot in the eight-woman plus coxswain crew that will represent the United States at the World Championships in July in Belgium.\n"This is a great opportunity for Laura to take her rowing career further than the collegiate ranks," IU rowing head coach Steve Peterson said. "She is perhaps the best rower to ever wear an IU uniform, and she is one of the best collegiate rowers in the country."\nThe athletes were invited by the United States Rowing Association, or USRowing, the sport's national governing body. The criteria included a coach's recommendation, performance in competition and performance on the rowing machine. \n"She is definitely strong enough and talented enough to row at this level," Peterson said.\nLazaridis thinks she might have been the last of the IU rowing community to hear the news. \nThe English major was in seclusion on campus preparing for a final exam last month when Peterson received word from USRowing and e-mailed his rowers. \nNearly eight hours later, Lazaridas got a congratulatory call on her cell phone from team captain Elisabeth Benoit. She ventured to the nearest computer at the Indiana Memorial Union. \n"I was in a public place, so I couldn't act really excited," Lazaridis said in a phone interview. "But I told my boyfriend and called my parents." \nLazaridis said practices consist of two hours of rowing at 7 a.m., an hour of rowing at 10 a.m. and "erg(ing) or something else on land" at 4 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.\nRowers arrive at the boathouse at 7 a.m. for two hours on the water and return at 5 p.m. for an additional hour and a half every Tuesday and Thursday. They also are on the water for a couple of hours Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, with the balance of the weekend for personal time. \n"It's been a lot more physically demanding because of all the practices," Lazaridis said. "I've been asking a lot more of my body."\nTen of the 24 rowers at the camp will head to Princeton, N. J., where the final eight will be named for the trip to Belgium. \nDespite the highly competitive atmosphere among the country's best collegiate rowers, Lazaridis said "our coach (University of California women's head coach Dave O'Neill) made a big point of having everyone work at bringing each other up rather than beating each other down." \nIn less than a week, Lazaridis said she has learned "a lot of technical things about" handling an oar. \n"I'm working on being smoother all the way through the stroke," she said. \nAt the start of her senior year, Lazaridis talked with Peterson about her options at elite-level rowing after graduation. Peterson, himself a veteran of similar camps when he was a world champion and Olympic rower, explained what it would take. \nHer teammates observed the transformation.\n"She definitely took it up a notch this year," Varsity 8 bow seat Lanie Deppe said. "It's been amazing to watch her work ethic, determination and attitude completely change." \nRegardless of the outcome at the camp, Lazaridis will return to Bloomington and train full-time under Peterson's guidance. \n"My goal is to row on the national team," she said.
(10/28/05 4:54am)
The Hoosiers hope to begin another successful year of rowing Sunday at their only contest of the fall season, the Head of the Elk, a 5K race against the clock on the St. Joseph River in Elkhart, Ind. \nIU coach Steve Peterson said he doesn't place a lot of value on the results of fall races, but believes the event will allow him to assess the team against stiff competition, including Big Ten rivals. He also thinks a well-rowed race could have a huge impact on the sprint season. \n"The idea for us is to go as fast as we can in the Big Tens in the spring," Peterson said. "So we're going to go as fast as we can in the Head of the Elk because it's going to help how we're going to do in the spring."\nAt last year's Head of the Elk, IU defeated NCAA championship contender Notre Dame and held its own against tradition-laden Wisconsin with a bronze medal finish. \n"That was a huge step forward for the program because it gave the team confidence," Peterson said. \nIU's performance initiated the program's finest year, which culminated in a win over No. 19 Iowa and sixth place at the Big Tens. \nThe importance of the Head of the Elk is not lost to the rowers. \n"Competing with and beating the Big Ten teams we'll face in the spring can keep us motivated through winter training and into the sprint season," said senior Ashley Airis, who will sit in the stroke seat, the first seat, in the Varsity 8 boat.\nIU will enter five shells in the race -- a Varsity 8, a Varsity 4 and three Novice 8s. Looking ahead, Peterson said he wants the rowers to become physically stronger this year because he believes pumping iron contributed to the team's improvement. \n"We made a lot of gains in the weight room last year and that was a huge reason we got faster," Peterson said. "I want to continue that."\nPeterson also will see to it that IU rowers develop more mental toughness. He plans to create competitive situations in workouts that demand more of the team. \n"Crews that are mentally tough have pushed their limit and gone further," Peterson said. "That's what we want to do. It will make them mentally tougher and more powerful." \nPeterson even started night school for the team, so the rowers might learn more about their skills with the oar.\n"Night school is an opportunity to be really nitpicky," senior captain Elisabeth Benoit said. "It gives us a chance to be critical of ourselves and to improve parts of the stroke, like the catch or the finish."\nAll Big Ten senior Laura Lazaredis said the Hoosiers will be ready Sunday as well as for the spring season.\n"We're going to be awesome this year," Lazaredis said.
(10/06/05 5:13am)
IU's rowing clinic expanded its session to three weeks this year to better prepare walk-ons and novices for the realities of life in America's oldest intercollegiate sport.\n"Last year we taught them how to row, but we didn't teach them what rowing was about," head coach Steve Peterson said. "There's a big difference, and we needed more time." \nAssistant coach Fran O'Rourke, who heads up the novice program, said the rowing clinic introduces the sport to students across the campus, gives them a chance to learn to row and helps them decide if it is something they like and would want to pursue for four years at IU. \n"(Coaches and varsity rowers) walk around campus and go to freshmen orientation and stop students who look like they might be decent rowers," O'Rourke said.\nO'Rourke said they look for tall women, especially those who appear to be athletic and might have played basketball or volleyball. Swimmers, however, make the loudest sounds on the recruiting radar. \n"Swimmers make good rowers because they understand the training that's involved," O'Rourke said. "They compete at comparable levels." \nThe clinic's daily 90-minute sessions began with an orientation to rowing shells and an introduction to rowing technique, designed to get as much time on the water as possible.\nAlso included in subsequent sessions were strength training routines and cross training methods, in addition to regular workouts on rowing machines and an overview of NCAA compliance rules. \nO'Rourke said she looks for improvement, effort and athleticism in the participants, while trying to determine if they might enjoy rowing. \nAmong the women attending the program were accomplished high school athletes new to rowing, but who had caught the coaches' attention, and high school rowers who were recruited but not offered scholarships. \nFreshman Emily Clarke, a swimmer from Bloomington High School North, awoke every morning to the clunk of Hoosier oars outside her bedroom window, which overlooks IU's rowing venue, Lake Lemon. \n"They would row by as soon as I got up every morning," said Clarke, who drove to the IU boathouse one morning during her senior year to meet the coaches and find out more about rowing. \n"I thought 'That looks cool," Clarke said. "It looks like fun.'" \nClarke said getting into a shell with seven other rowers made her more aware of the sport's dependence on teamwork. \n"It's all about the team," Clarke said. "You have to rely on everyone else. It's a group effort."\nFreshman Madison Spruell played soccer in high school in Mt. Carmel, Ill., but had her eye on the one seat in a shell where lean and mean rowers can not fit. \n"I always wanted to be a coxswain because of my size," Spruell said.\nThe pint-sized Spruell, who received a recruiting letter from the IU coaches, said she fits the role of the coxswain, who commands the crew and steers the boat. \n"Coxes have to be outgoing and organized," Spruell said. "I'm both."\nForty-two women from the clinic were invited to row for the cream and crimson. \n"We're excited about the potential athleticism and speed of this year's novice class," O'Rourke said. "We're eager to do some more rowing and to get racing"
(09/01/05 5:28am)
Anyone looking for IU rowing coach Steve Peterson shortly after dawn between June and August will find him in the boathouse at Lake Lemon in northern Monroe County. There, amid the aroma of epoxy and the haze of dust, Peterson launches into one of his favorite pastimes -- repairing damaged shells.\nScraping, gluing, filling, sanding and painting a rowing shell seems a messy way to spend a muggy morning in Bloomington. But Peterson likes to "tinker around the boathouse" and sees fixing nicks, dings and cracks as the outgrowth of an old hobby.\n"I used to build model airplanes as a kid, so this is the grown-up version of that," said Peterson, who recently began his third year at the helm of the Hoosiers. \nPeterson's talent for refurbishing shells sets him apart from all Big Ten rowing rivals who, like some Division I programs, employ a full-time boatwright or rigger who handles equipment. \n"That really doesn't bother me," Peterson said. "I enjoy working on the equipment. In my ideal world if I could work on the equipment and coach, I'd be a happy coach. The fact that I have to sit in the office occasionally is kind of a bummer."\nPeterson picked up his craft out of necessity while rowing at the University of Rhode Island, a club program where coaches did not fiddle with equipment. As the club's president for two years, Peterson had to figure out how to restore damaged boats or else the team could not compete. \nAs Rhode Island's coach after graduation, Peterson's interest in boat craftsmanship grew. A position at the Durham Boat Company in New Hampshire, where he built a sleek single, gave Peterson the additional experience needed to deal with just about any degree of damage to a shell.\n"The biggest advantage to being my own boatwright is that it makes me more aware of our equipment," Peterson said. \nThe slender rowing shells, made of carbon fiber, can become damaged by debris in the water, such as logs, or by contact with docks, rocks, bridges and other boats. But Peterson said even the slightest blemish in the hull can slow a shell .001 seconds in a race. \nThus, is not embarrassed about his scrupulous handiwork. \n"Being a perfectionist when it comes to boat repair is not necessarily a bad quality," Peterson said. \nPeterson said the most important attribute for first-rate repairs is patience. \n"The trick is not rushing through it," he said. "If you rush it, next thing you know you're going to have to repair the repair you just screwed up." \nThe process is "pretty basic, pretty easy" and consists of three phases, Peterson said. He first attends to structural soundness of the hull, then to its subtle shape, and finally to its cosmetic appeal. \nPeterson taught Hoosier assistant coaches Carmen Mirochna and Fran O'Rourke how to repair boats and maintain equipment this summer. They gained some valuable schooling and found out the work is rewarding.\n"Knowing how your boats work and knowing that your boats are in good shape when you send your athletes out to row them just makes things run smoother," O'Rourke said.\n"It's been nice," said Mirochna. "Steve takes time to make sure his coaches know how to do repairs, so it's been a huge advantage. He really likes it and helps us make it fun." \nThe payoff for Peterson, when the paint dries and a shell flings over the water, is personal fulfillment.\n"The neat thing about working on equipment is being able to say to myself, 'I did that,'" Peterson said. "There's something to the hands-on accomplishment. That's what I like"
(08/29/05 5:49am)
In the good vibrations of summer, collegiate rowers can have some fun, fun, fun while pursuing a range of interests and jobs that help them on and off the water. \nJunior and co-captain Elisabeth Benoit worked as an assistant director for a day camp in Middleville, Mich. The rest of the time she trained for her first triathlon. \nA former high school swimmer and water polo player, Benoit, along with teammate junior Erin Kuehn, competed in an endurance contest that included a .5-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride and 4.5-mile run. \n"I loved it," said Benoit. "It was so much fun."\nBenoit thinks pulling an oar helped her prepare for the race, making her better able to focus. She also could muster the perseverance required for an all-out effort in a three-sport challenge. \n"I knew how much I could push myself because I have to push myself so much in rowing," she said. \nBenoit admits she was "hurting" during the final leg of the race, but believes the physical and mental toughness required in rowing gave her a never-give-up attitude. \n"I kept saying, 'You know what this feels like, you've done this before,'" she said. \nJunior Ashley Airis had planned to spend this summer rowing on Bloomington's Lake Lemon, but ran out of money after a few weeks. Instead, she went to work as a bartender at a resort at Lake Vermillion in Tower, Mich., that her family owns. She did not think of mixing drinks and pouring beer seven days a week as labor, however. \n"It's really awesome being able to meet all the groups of people who come to the lake and to party when I get off work," said Airis, who rows in the engine room of the \nVarsity-8. \nWith the nearest gym an hour a way, Airis ran daily and kept her muscles in shape hauling cases of beer. Customers often clamor for service, so tending a bar helped her become more patient, Airis said. \n"People are really in your face when they want a drink, so I have to stay calm," she said. "That's useful in rowing. When I get frustrated, I have to remain calm."\nCoxswains, the diminutive members of the team who steer the shell and prod the rowers, typically have never pulled an oar. But Varsity-8 coxswain Betsy Hibbard, a sophomore, decided to break convention and learn to row. \nParticipating with the Toledo Rowing Club, Hibbard found out what it is like to propel a boat with an oar. \n"It reminds you of all the things you have to think about as a coxswain," said Hibbard. \nBut it was her job working as waitress alongside single moms that taught Hibbard the most valuable lesson. \n"It makes you appreciate why you're in school," she said. \nHibbard, who nonchalantly discloses having "mastered the art of sleeping in to 1 or 2 p.m." during her three months at home, captures the sentiment among her teammates. \n"I'm excited to be back," Hibbard said.
(05/19/05 1:37am)
IU capped off the season in style Sunday at the Aramark South/Central Region Sprints at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. All four Hoosiers boats not only lined up in the petite finals but also gained 187 points to clinch seventh out of 11 teams in the Central Region and ninth out of 21 squads in the overall standings. \nThe effort put IU -- who until now saw only one of its shells advance in the petites -- ahead of vigorous crews from Texas, Clemson and No. 20 Louisville.\nNo. 9 Virginia took the team and South Region title with 372 points, while No. 4 Ohio State finished second, claiming top honors in the Central Region with 366 points. \nThe Big Ten flexed its rowing muscle by putting six teams in the top 10 overall, with No. 7 Michigan in fourth, No. 3 Michigan State, the Big Ten champ, in sixth and No. 15 Minnesota in eighth, followed by IU. \n"Getting all of our boats into the petite final was our goal all season," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "This is a huge step forward for the program. It leaves them hungry for next year. It's definitely a big step for us."\nIU's varsity boats entered the regatta, which was delayed for three hours Saturday due to thunderstorms, seeded higher than in previous years, with the Varsity 8 at No. 9, the second Varsity 8 at No. 10 and the Varsity 4 at No. 13. \n"Starting with a seed like this is a huge advantage," Peterson said before travelling to Tennessee. \nThe Varsity 8, in the tightest contest of the petite finals, was one of four boats in a tussle for second place behind front-runner Minnesota. But the Hoosiers were out-sprinted placing fifth, ahead of Central Florida and behind Iowa in second, Notre Dame in third and Louisville in fourth.\nThe crew sharpened their start and smoothed out their transition into pace cadence over the spring, but the Varsity 8's Achilles heel has been the final 250 meters, when rowers put everything they have into cranking oars and propelling the shell across the line.\n"We have not had a great sprint all year," Peterson said. "When it got down to sprinting, I knew we were in a little bit of trouble. It's part of the race plan that we've never fully developed and perfected."\nContinuing its banner year, the second Varsity 8 beat Minnesota, Clemson and Duke for third place behind Texas in first and No. 11 Tennessee in second. \nThe Varsity 4, competing against three ranked crews, came in sixth, while the novice-filled Open 4 defeated Clemson, Miami (Fla.), Kansas and Duke for third place behind top finisher Tennessee and Cincinnati in second.\n"I was really proud of them," said assistant coach Fran O'Rourke of the Open 4, IU's first entry in the category. "They raced really hard and finished well compared to the competition they were up against." \nThe regatta results are all the more commendable given the activity on campus the past two weeks as the academic semester culminated. \n"There have been a few distractions with graduation and everybody starting summer classes," said senior stroke Amanda Walker, the first Hoosier to repeat as All Big Ten First Team, after the first of two practices last Wednesday. "But we're doing pretty good with it because we know how important regionals are."\n"We haven't had a bad practice all week," said sophomore Varsity 8 coxswain Betsy Hibbard, dashing off to class after a morning session of steady state pieces. \nIU rowers Sunday night pulled down the doors to the boathouse at Lake Lemon, where even on rough days the water caresses the dock, having earned respect in a historic season that ended in grand style.\n"It's not just the Varsity 8, not just two boats, but all four crews we sent to the regionals performed well in a very tough region," Peterson said. "It's great"
(05/16/05 5:53pm)
IU capped off the season in style Sunday at the Aramark South/Central Region Sprints on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. All four Hoosiers boats not only lined up in the petite finals but also gained 187 points to clinch seventh out of 11 teams in the Central Region and ninth out of 21 squads in the overall standings. \nThe effort put IU -- who until now saw only one of its shells advance to the petites -- ahead of vigorous crews at Texas, Clemson and No. 20 Louisville.\nNo. 9 Virginia took the team and South Region title with 372 points, while No. 4 Ohio State finished second claiming top honors in the Central Region with 366 points. \nThe Big Ten flexed its rowing muscle by putting six teams in the top 10 overall, with No. 7 Michigan in fourth, No. 3 Michigan State, the Big Ten champ, in sixth and No. 15 Minnesota in eighth, followed by IU. \n"Getting all of our boats into the petite final was our goal all season," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "This is a huge step forward for the program. It leaves them hungry for next year. It's definitely a big step for us."\nIU's varsity boats entered the regatta, which was delayed for three hours Saturday due to thunderstorms, seeded higher than in previous years, with the Varsity 8 at No. 9, the second Varsity 8 at No. 10 and the Varsity 4 at No. 13. \n"Starting with a seed like this is a huge advantage," Peterson said before travelling to Tennessee. \nThe Varsity 8, in the tightest contest of the petite finals, was one of four boats in a tussle for second place behind front-runner Minnesota. But the Hoosiers were out-sprinted placing fifth, ahead of Central Florida and behind Iowa in second, Notre Dame in third and Louisville in fourth.\nThe crew sharpened their start and smoothed out their transition into pace cadence over the spring, but the Varsity 8's Achilles heel has been the final 250 meters, when rowers put everything they have into cranking oars and propelling the shell across the line.\n"We have not had a great sprint all year," Peterson said. "When it got down to sprinting, I knew we were in a little bit of trouble. It's part of the race plan that we've never fully developed and perfected."\nContinuing its banner year, the second Varsity 8 beat Minnesota, Clemson and Duke for third place behind Texas in first and No. 11 Tennessee in second. \nThe Varsity 4, competing against three ranked crews, came in sixth, while the novice-filled Open 4 defeated Clemson, Miami (Fla.), Kansas and Duke for third place behind top finisher Tennessee and Cincinnati in second. \n"I was really proud of them," said assistant coach Fran O'Rourke of the Open 4, IU's first entry in the category. "They raced really hard and finished well compared to the competition they were up against." \nThe regatta results are all the more commendable given the activity on campus the past two weeks as the academic semester culminated. \n"There have been a few distractions with graduation and everybody starting summer classes," said senior stroke Amanda Walker, the first Hoosier to repeat as All Big Ten First Team, after the first of two practices last Wednesday. "But we're doing pretty good with it because we know how important regionals are."\n"We haven't had a bad practice all week," said sophomore Varsity 8 coxswain Betsy Hibbard, dashing off to class after a morning session of steady state pieces. \nIU rowers Sunday night pulled down the doors to the boathouse at Lake Lemon, where even on rough days the water caresses the dock, having earned respect in a historic season that ended in grand style.\n"It's not just the Varsity 8, not just two boats, but all four crews we sent to the regionals performed well in a very tough region," Peterson said. "It's great"
(05/02/05 6:06am)
IU climbed out of the gloomy basement of the Big Ten and into gleeful sixth place with 46 points and its best-ever finish at the Big Ten Championship on Bloomington's Lake Lemon Saturday. \nNo. 7 Michigan State, trailing by eight points and in third place overall heading into the final race, won the conference crown with a first-place total of 130. No. 4 Ohio State came in second with 129 points and No. 14 Wisconsin recorded 106 points for third. No. 3 Michigan, the defending Big Ten champion, placed fourth with 103 points, while No. 15 Minnesota took fifth and No. 20 Iowa ended up seventh with 22 points.\nIU's Varsity 8 and second Varsity 4 knocked off No. 20 Iowa, while the second Varsity 8 downed Iowa and No. 15 Minnesota.\n"We are able to say we were racing right with the Big Ten schools, who are all ranked," said senior Varsity 8 stroke Amanda Walker. "It's a big accomplishment."\n"This means we're making progress," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "But we're trying to build a program, a big successful program. So as a team this is a huge, huge step forward."\nThe key to the Varsity 8's first victory over a ranked team in school history came before the official dropped the flag for the morning preliminary race. After pushing off in choppy water stirred by a brisk wind, the crew did not shake its normal pre-race jitters. Sophomore coxswain Betsy Hibbard steered the boat to a secluded part of the warm up area and led the crew in a yell designed to release the tension. \n"Nobody was expecting anything from us, and we were sick of everyone not expecting anything from us," Hibbard said. "So we decided that from the first stroke we were going to go after them. We did what we had to do." \nHibbard's strategy worked. IU beat Iowa by more than four seconds, finishing bow to stern with Michigan State for second place. \nSenior Elisabeth Benoit, who was moved into the Varsity 8 from the second Varsity 8 when Peterson swapped two rowers in each boat for the race, said beating Iowa was not a fluke and urged her crew to "do it again." They did, but finished second to Minnesota in the Petite Final. \nThe Hoosier second Varsity 8 took top honors in their Petite Final and placed fifth in the Big Ten by edging Minnesota, 6 minutes, 45.2 seconds to 6:45.82. Dropping Iowa early, IU and Minnesota traded a three-seat lead, with the Golden Gophers holding on to the advantage with less than 500 meters to go. But IU shifted early into sprint cadence and picked up a seat, gaining three more seats in the final five strokes to claim victory in the closest finish of the day.\n"We decided we weren't going to let (Minnesota beat us)," said sophomore Elaine Deppe. "When we decided to go, we really went with it." \nThe first Varsity 4 earned points for the Hoosiers when they took down Iowa in their Petite Final and finished second behind Ohio State, while the second Varsity 4 added to the total with their second-pace finished behind Minnesota in the Petite Final. \nOut of the Big Ten cellar, the happy Hoosiers better understand their coach's words after the race. \n"There's nothing magical to this," Peterson said to his team. "You row like this everyday." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill \nMeehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/29/05 5:39am)
Glistening arms stretched to the oars will bend and churn the water into foam in epic splendor when seven schools -- six of them nationally ranked -- compete for the Big Ten Championship Saturday on Bloomington's Lake Lemon. IU, the unranked entry, will play host to the regatta.\nShowing up this weekend will be defending Big Ten champion Michigan, ranked No. 3, along with the No. 4, No. 7, No. 14, No. 15 and No. 20 teams in the nation, according to Wednesday's Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing poll.\nBut that doesn't phase the conference's youngest program. IU's Varsity 8 rowers respect their exalted Big Ten guests and look upon their achievement with ambition. \n"It makes us want to represent the Big Ten as well as they do," said junior Ashley Airis, who cranks an oar in the Varsity 8 engine room. "We want to be as good as them so everyone can say that the Big Ten is the best conference in the nation."\nHoosier coach Steve Peterson believes the rankings "say a ton about the Big Ten" and sees them as a confirmation of the conference's ascendancy in the sport. \n"It says a ton about how new changes are occurring in women's rowing," he said. "To have six of our seven teams ranked in the top 20 is huge. One-third of the best crews in the country are Big Ten schools. It says the power is shifting in our sport." \nThe shift Peterson mentions began a decade ago, when Ohio State lured current coach Andy Teitelbaum away from the East-Coast rowing establishment. Peterson recounts when his friend Teitelbaum left Rutgers University in the Garden State for Ohio State.\n"Nobody understood why\nhe wanted to go," Peterson said. "Everyone thought he was nuts. But it was an early sign, and in hindsight he made a pretty smart move." \nA more recent defection from the east, where seat assignments were once a birthright, occurred two years ago, when IU hired Peterson. Landing Peterson, a World Champion and Olympic double sculler who had achieved notable success coaching women's crews while based on the tradition-laden East Coast, affirmed the transfer of rowing muscle to the land of milk and honey. \nWhat is more, Peterson enlisted Carmen Mirochna and Fran O'Rourke, up-and-coming assistant coaches at Cornell University, a school entrenched in the traditional rowing culture.\nIU rowing has taken a giant leap under its new coaches but is the obvious underdog when the team gets on the line Saturday. To make it to the afternoon Grand Final, the Varsity 8 will have to knock off two teams in the morning race against No. 2 seed Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 6 Iowa. Peterson acknowledges that "it's a really, really hard thing to do" and is realistic about their objective.\n"Our very achievable goal would be to be racing down in the Petit Final against whoever the other two schools are and be in a dogfight with them," Peterson said. "I am not bummed out by that."\nA key word in IU rowing is "improvement." Whether rowers are pulling the erg or running stadiums, Peterson wants them to surpass their previous effort. His approach is one part uncomplicated philosophy and one part affable personality that creates an easy-going but highly competitive environment where self-motivation rules. \nAn area off the water in which the Hoosiers have made noticeable gains is the weight room. IU rowers have been spending quality time with the Standard brothers and sporting ripped torsos this season as a result. Hoosier rowers move metal in ways comparable to their mettle.\n"One of the signs of a great team," said IU Strength and Conditioning Coach Josh Eidson, "is how they motivate themselves when the coaches aren't around. That happens with the rowers. Their motivation is very high.\n"They take pride in the weight room and work extremely hard. They push each other and hold each other accountable. They understand the importance of being strong and are not afraid of lifting. They know lifting weights helps them in the boat."\nThe Hoosiers have become rowers to watch this year, but they aspire to be like their Big Ten opponents-rowers to watch out for. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill \nMeehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/18/05 5:31am)
While most of the campus was joining together for Little 500 revelry, Hoosier rowers entered battle to the slow beat of a Viking march, undaunted and without faltering. \nIU's second Varsity 8 overpowered No. 19 Minnesota 7:30.5-7:33.9 for the first Big Ten win in their category. The Varsity 8 gave No. 4 Ohio State, the regatta host, a respectable fight. \nIU assistant coach Carmen Mirochna said the second Varsity 8 crew looked strong the entire course. \n"From the word 'go' they controlled and dominated the race by at least a seat or two," Mirochna said.\nA revised lineup did not concern the crew when it got on the line next to Minnesota. Sophomore bow Courtney Valerious said they finally "had control of things" and were united behind their starboard stroke. \n"I had total confidence (in the lineup)," Valerious said. "(Laura) Stebbins at stroke is amazing. Her experience and her confidence up there is exactly what we need." \nFour IU crews faced the Golden Gophers and Ohio State at the Buckeyes' home venue at Griggs Reservoir on the Scioto River in Columbus Saturday. \nThe Varsity 4 fell to Minnesota, 8:16.6-8:39.2, while finishing behind Ohio State, 8:17.8-8:45.1. The Novice 8 crossed the line in third behind Minnesota and Ohio State in their two races. The second Varsity 8 improved its time against Ohio State but could not keep pace with the Buckeyes' winning boat, losing 7:12.7-7:29.9.\nBouncing back from a morning loss to Minnesota, IU's Varsity 8 threatened No. 4 Ohio State, but the vigorous charge fell short. \nBesides going against a top-tier opponent, IU had one of those "little annoyances" teams hope not to be bothered with before a race: its new Vespoli boat arrived without the proper rigging. Peterson said the rigging did not cause the loss.\nThinking they were a long shot, Peterson said IU rowers decided to "just go after (Ohio State) and see what happens." They stayed with the Buckeyes longer than expected. \n"Through the halfway point they were still in contact with (Ohio State)," Peterson said. "It wasn't like they were blown out of the water. This was the No. 4 team in the country. The first 1,000 (meters) was probably the best 1,000 this crew has ever done." \nAlways ready to contend for the cream and crimson, IU rowers are feeling brawny at the close of regular-season competition and eager for the conference championship at home on Lake Lemon April 29.\n"It's good we finished with that kind of note," Peterson said. "OK, we can do something and start preparing for Big Tens."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill \nMeehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/15/05 5:44am)
IU rowers face their biggest challenge of the season tomorrow when they get on the line next to No. 4 Ohio State and No. 19 Minnesota in Columbus. \nHoosier coach Steve Peterson realizes the situation presented by the Big Ten rivals.\n"These people are fast," Peterson said. "They are very, very good crews, and we're really trying to step up and race at the same level. We have to be on the top of our game."\nIU's Varsity 8 -- with a school record 7 wins -- must pull long and strong the entire race to compete with the Buckeyes and Golden Gophers.\n"It will take a solid 2,000-meter performance from the crew to mentally be on their game for us to have a chance of beating either of them," Peterson said.\nLast week against Notre Dame and Louisville, the crew showed the ability to get off the line more forcefully when the flag dropped and the referee barked "Go!" The powerful start also helped IU in the middle 1,000 meters of the race. \nPeterson's aim this week was refining the way his Varsity 8 handles the final 500 meters of the race. Peterson wants "eight people in the boat doing the same thing." More than anything, Peterson needs his crew to deplete their physical and mental reserves. \n"The biggest thing is trying to empty the gas tanks at the end of the race," he said.\nThe second Varsity 8 crew, which hung with Notre Dame for half the race last Saturday, enters tomorrow's tilt with new seat assignments. Assistant coach Carmen Mirochna said selecting sophomore Laura Stebbins stroke led to the revised lineup. \nMirochna moved Stebbins from seven seat because "she has been really aggressive in the drive" and brings an ingredient the boat needs. \n"She has a good rhythm, and we've been looking for a rhythm for a long time," Mirochna said.\nStebbins, who earned four letters at Notre Dame Academy and competed nationally for the Toledo Rowing Club, said she is "a little nervous" as the lead rower. She noticed that the crew improved a little this week but knows the importance of all the seats. \nAfter sliding her oar into place and tightening the gate on her oarlock in the rain Wednesday morning, Stebbins straightened up and averted any presumption about the reason behind the crew's gains. \n"It's not because I'm in stroke," Stebbins said.\nFormer second Varsity 8 stroke Meredith Hanschu, now in five seat, "is more effective in the middle of the boat relaying the rhythm," Mirochna said.\nNovice 8 coach Fran O'Rourke said her crew's first victory, over Louisville, last week raised their confidence. \n"(The win) gave them something to keep shooting for and will keep them hungry," O'Rourke said. "It also gives them a little bit of reward for their hard work."\nHeading into its toughest regatta thus far, IU's Varsity 8 seems prepared to rebound from last week's setback. \n"We're up to the challenge," sophomore coxswain Betsy Hibbard said. "We were a little down, but we'll get back up." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/14/05 4:56am)
Editor's Note: This is from an interview conducted October 8, 2004\nThe Little 500 bike race -- the main attraction of what is known as the "World's Greatest College Weekend" -- is held Friday and Saturday. Hollywood portrayed the bike race 25 years ago in "Breaking Away," and the film remains unofficial required viewing for IU freshmen. Dennis Christopher's role as Dave Stohler, the leading "Cutter," brought the young actor three movie industry awards, including the Golden Globe's New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture. For anyone who hasn't seen the film, Union Board will play the movie at 8 p.m. Friday in Dunn Meadow.
(04/11/05 6:38am)
Irish eyes are smiling in boathouses across Hoosierland. Notre Dame crews swept all but one race against IU, Purdue, Louisville and Northwestern on Eagle Creek in Indianapolis Saturday. One of the Irish wins included the Indiana State Championship in the Varsity 8 category. \nFinishing second to Notre Dame for the state championship, the IU Varsity 8 recorded its first defeat of the season. Later in the day, IU was topped by Louisville and Notre Dame. This was IU's first regatta consisting of two races in a day. \n"It's disappointing we lost," IU coach Steve Peterson said. "Nobody in the Varsity 8 is happy we didn't win. We came in here with expectations that we'd beat Notre Dame, we'd beat Louisville. We didn't do that."\nIU was off to its best start ever, 7-0, heading into the regatta. Notre Dame coach Martin Stone had been watching IU's progress, after finishing behind the Hoosiers at the Head of the Elk last fall.\n"I was very, very concerned," Stone said. "I knew Indiana has a lot of speed this year. I was scared."\nBut against a bright blue April sky, Irish crews exploded off the line, forcing other boats to catch them instead of rowing their own races. When a crew's bow ball neared, Notre Dame sustained its rhythm, hammering the final 500-meter sprint.\nNotre Dame's powerful starts ensued from the Hoosiers' own successful race strategy this season. \n"We knew IU gets off the line quickly, so that's what we were trying to do," Notre Dame Varsity 8 seven seat Katie Chenoweth said. \nPeterson pointed to the starts when contrasting the Varsity 8's races against Notre Dame. Peterson said his top crew had the "starting sequence perfected, got it really clean and efficient, but they weren't pulling as hard as they needed to be." \nThe IU Varsity 8 adjusted its start and improved in its second tilt, crossing the line nearly two seconds closer to Notre Dame. \nPeterson said the changes implemented Saturday are effective for the season and his "big focus" now is the final segment of the 2,000-meter race. He will develop a "concrete sprint" that involves more than "eight rowers in the boat pulling harder" and includes "different little tricks to get more speed out of them."\nIU's second Varsity 8 finished second to Notre Dame in its morning contest and third, behind Louisville and Notre Dame, in the afternoon. The Varsity 4 placed third and fourth in their two races, while the second Varsity 4 grabbed a second and third. The Novice 8 recorded its first win, over Louisville, in a third-place finish, after taking a third earlier in the day. \nIU is taking the two losses to heart and knows what it takes to be successful in the challenging conference play that begins this week. \n"We understand that to be champions we have to move from failure to failure with enthusiasm," said Varsity 8 coxswain Betsy Hibbard. "Getting down after losing doesn't make a champion. I'd rather lose today than to get into the Big Tens and panic or freak out."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/08/05 5:39am)
The Hoosiers have a chance to claim their first state title, when they face Notre Dame, Purdue and Butler tomorrow for the Indiana Cup on Eagle Creek in Indianapolis. In a separate contest, IU also will take on the Irish and Louisville. \nThe Indiana Cup entitles rowers on the winning team in this uncelebrated sport to stand tiptoe on any misty morning wherever they want -- all around the Hoosier State, that is. \n"Yeah, it's for bragging rights, mostly," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "But beating a good opponent is what we're looking to do. The Indiana State Championship just gives it a title."\nThe chance to place the Indiana Cup in Assembly Hall is more likely than ever. IU's Varsity 8 crew already has topped its two in-state rivals. They outdid the Irish at the Head of the Elk last fall, tying Purdue for a bronze medal. This spring, on its way to a school-record 7-0, IU's top boat defeated the Boilermakers by nearly 15 seconds at the Clemson Challenge. \nAlthough Notre Dame began the season ranked 20th, it has dropped out of sport's leading poll and is not awakening any echoes. Purdue, a reputable club team with a heritage, is lukewarm. The Varsity 8 finished fifth in a five-boat race at the San Diego Crew Classic last week. Butler, another club team, is not considered a major challenger. \nThe task for IU will be lining up for a second race, something it has not done in one day. After the state title tilt in the morning, the Hoosiers will contend with the Irish and Louisville in the afternoon. \nRacing twice a day is a format that Peterson wants his team to experience. It has to be able to go faster in the afternoon in post-season championship races, which require two races a day. The Hoosiers are not concerned. \n"This is good for us to do early in the season," said sophomore Stacey Young. "We have to see how we handle it because we'll have to race twice in the Big Ten Championship and the South Central Region Sprints."\nFacing the Irish twice always makes the day noteworthy. On top of that, Louisville has been in tight races with ranked teams this season, getting edged at the finish by Minnesota and Tennessee. Louisville also will be better rested when it opposes the Hoosiers. Peterson said the Cardinals will "have an easier race (against the Ohio State club team) in the morning." \nBut Peterson recognizes that the event schedule "sets us up for a great day of racing" and knows that "it will be our first real test of speed."\nCheerful to be pulling oars in shorts and T-shirts, the Hoosiers appear primed, especially with the cancellation of last week's regatta. For sophomore Dana Powell, a Louisville resident who rows in the bow of the Varsity 8, there is no question that the readiness is all she needs. \n"I hate U of L more than any other team," said Powell, with an unabashed smile. "I want to beat them. I want to beat Notre Dame. I want to beat all of them."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/04/05 5:01am)
It was as if Poseidon had been snubbed by one of the crews and was unleashing his wrath. Furious gusts and fierce rain turned Cincinnati's Lake Harsha into a turbulent swirl unsafe for rowing. It is the first time an IU race was canceled due to foul weather. \nIU assistant coach Fran O'Rourke said regattas are "very rarely" called off, but the conditions were unlike anything she has ever seen in rowing. The wind was "ridiculous" but the water "rowable," so O'Rourke sent forth her Novice 8 and two Varsity 4s for the initial events. But things quickly worsened. \n"As soon as the Varsity 4s launched off the docks, the wind started picking up like crazy," O'Rourke said. "It wasn't good to begin with, and then it just started going nuts."\nO'Rourke was in a motor boat, called a launch, in which coaches follow and observe their teams. But even the launch struggled in the whitecaps on the squally lake.\n"I was having a hard time getting my launch to go through the waves and was having trouble steering," she said. "The 4s were getting blown all over the place. I was like 'Oh, my gosh, these kids can't row.'\n"I was trying to get to the IU boats and tell them 'Turn around. I'm not putting you guys out in this. I don't want you rowing. I don't think it's safe.' Then I was going to head in and tell (IU coach) Steve (Peterson) 'Steve, I'm sorry. I just couldn't put them out like that.' By then Cincinnati's head coach was coming back in and corralling everybody and getting them off the water."\nO'Rourke said the decision to cancel the race was made by Peterson and the head coaches from Cincinnati, Dayton and Eastern Michigan. \nPeterson faced a similar decision when a severe drop in temperature forced him to take the team to the gym for a practice recently. He wanted his boats on the water but knows when rowers are at risk. \n"They think more about surviving than about rowing," he said at the time. \nThe Hoosiers overcame a swelling Potomac River a week ago to edge George Washington University. Until Saturday in Cincinnati, though, the roughest water IU encountered was its home venue. \n"The worst was when we got waked by a fishing boat on Lake Lemon," junior Laura Lazaridas said last week when asked to rate the experience on surging Potomac. "The boat was filled with water."\nIU headed to Cincinnati after an attitude adjustment and was eager to get on the line. The team had planned to kick butt and not even to bother taking names later. O'Rourke said the Varsity 8, trying to stay warm and dry inside a boathouse, was disappointed the conditions were not better. \n"They were kind of bummed," she said. "But when they saw that the Novice 8 was pretty close to swamping and the crew was soaked, in 39 degrees with a bruising wind, they were like 'Oh, OK.'"\nThe cream and crimson will be able to combine the mood with the muscle at the Indiana State Championships on Eagle Creek in Indianapolis this Saturday. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(04/01/05 5:36am)
Improving the Varsity 8's technique is not a priority so early in the season, but a change of attitude is. Starting Saturday -- against Eastern Michigan University, the University of Dayton and host University of Cincinnati -- the Hoosiers intend to be merciless. \nIU coach Steve Peterson said the Varsity 8 "had a letdown" in last week's contest with George Washington University. At a point when his top boat should have put the Colonials away, it allowed GWU to creep back and turn the race into a dead heat. IU prevailed by barely two seconds. \nPeterson aims to make sure the crew drops rivals in the future. \n"It's been every stroke, every practice," he said. "We're trying to put everything out there to go fast and never let down. We have one pressure, and that's full pressure. Nothing else."\nThe Varsity 8 is making history in Peterson's second year at the helm. IU received votes for the first time in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing Poll released Wednesday. \nPeterson wants to be ranked, but polls will not change the way the Hoosiers prepare to meet long-range goals, which are shaped by persistent hard work and constant improvement. It is a view shared by his rowers, who take IU's landmark progress in stride and as impetus. \n"It's part of the plan," said junior Ashley Airis. "Being 7-0 helps to keep the momentum going."\nStill, Peterson is feeding his rowers wing nuts for breakfast at the boathouse. He wants them ruthless from now on.\n"We're working on attacking other boats," he said. "Not just to beat them -- but crush them."\nIU's second Varsity 8, with a 4-3 record, also has emphasized staying focused and maintaining unity heading into Saturday's event. Sophomore Elaine Deppe said the crew "lost it" when GWU rowed through them to victory on rough water. She knows what happens when a crew breaks its concentration and loses its rhythm. \n"You start to become an individual instead of a team rowing together," Deppe said. "Also, you want to pull harder, which throws your technique off, and then it all just goes to crap." \nThe race will be a return to familiar water for sophomores Dana Powell and Betsy Hibbard, transfers from Cincinnati now rowing in IU's Varsity 8. \nHibbard watched IU's progress from afar last year and was eager to be on a team that shared her aspirations. \n"I wanted to get to the NCAAs, and Steve talked me into it (transferring)," said Hibbard.Powell did not even consider IU when looking at colleges, but a decision her freshman year at Cincinnati to major in journalism brought Bloomington into a new light. She also "wanted to be a part of the new direction" for IU rowing. \n"I love my boat right now," Powell said.\nWith their killer instinct, however, Powell and Hibbard might be undesirable guests as they line up against their former teammates on Lake Harsha.\n"We're out for blood now," Hibbard said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(03/28/05 6:07am)
Everything is coming up roses for the Hoosiers' young season so far. In tight races with George Washington University on an ungracious Potomac River, the IU women's rowing boat Varsity 8 set a school record of 7-0 and the Varsity 4 boat got off to 1-0 start on Saturday in the nation's capital.\n"It wasn't the prettiest race, but we came away with the 'W,'" said IU coach Steve Peterson. "The water level was really high and the current was flying, with a lot of debris on it."\nThe adverse conditions forced IU to abandon its strategy and search for its cadence the entire race. After falling behind George Washington in the first 500 of the 2,000-meter course, IU gained an open-water lead at the midway point. But the Colonials attacked and caught IU, turning the remainder of the race into an all-out test of skill and will.\nIU outlasted George Washington in the final meters, however, to win by about two seconds in 5 minutes 54.7 seconds -- breaking the school record for best opening to a season, set in 2004 with a 6-0 beginning. The Colonials clocked a 5:56.6 while Georgetown placed third in 6:03.4 and North Carolina fourth in 6:04.3.\n"It came down to whoever got the last stroke in," said senior captain Amanda Walker. "GW kept creeping back. We were trying (to get ahead), but it just wasn't happening."\nWalker said Varsity 8 got knocked off stride by a wake and a gust of wind five strokes into the race and thus struggled to find its tempo.\n"We never got into our rhythm," she said. "We weren't rowing like we usually do."\nPeterson said the race was tighter than it should have been because IU was not in top form in the third 500 meters, when it could have put GW away.\n"When you've got an opponent in a vulnerable situation and you know you can end the race, then do it," he said. "Even if it takes a little extra effort, put them away, be done with it and win the race."\nThe Varsity 4, with only two days of practice in its boat, trailed George Washington at the 1,000-meter mark. But IU adjusted its technique and tallied a 7:32.7 to defeat the Colonials by nearly six seconds and register a victory in its first contest of the season.\n"We lengthened out a bit and I guess it just clicked," said senior captain Annie Lawson. "We worked with the water and got our rhythm together. It had a lot more acceleration."\nIU's second Varsity 8 beat Georgetown to the tape, in 6:40.0, but finished third behind North Carolina and George Washington.\nPeterson, who coached at George Washington for seven years before arriving at IU, was upbeat because the team won -- and learned something that will shape its outlook.\n"It was not the race intensity and level that it has to be when we start going against the Ohio States and Michigans," he said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeeahn@indiana.edu.
(03/25/05 5:16am)
The Hoosiers cruised home from the Palmetto State in high tide, after their season-opening win at Clemson. In its ebb, they found a message that was no SOS. \nThe IU Varsity 8 -- the team's top boat -- was named Boat of the Week by the Big Ten. The tribute is a first for the five-year old rowing program that is slowly gaining respect in the competitive conference. Four of the seven Big Ten teams are ranked in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches/USRowing pre-season poll.\n"It was a big deal for us," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "Indiana has never gotten anything like this." \nThe young crew warmed to the news after a morning's row in rainfall and is taking the long view of this great compliment to its progress.\n"It's a big accomplishment for us and shows we're improving," said junior Lauren Anderson. "It made history. But we still have to work hard, since we'll be racing against some tough crews."\nThe accolade did keep IU from gearing up for the contest with Georgetown and North Carolina in the nation's capital tomorrow. \nPeterson wants to extend the distance his crew holds a higher stroke rating off the start and in the early stages of the 2,000-meter contest. \n"We want a really solid first thousand (meters)," he said. "That's our big goal."\nPeterson also worked on the crew's sprint in the final 250 meters. His analysis of last week's race indicated that the Hoosiers eased off before cranking it up for the final push -- the hallmark of a crew's toughness.\nIn addition to the Varsity 8, IU will enter a second Varsity 8, Varsity 4 and a Novice 8 in their respective events this weekend. \nAssistant coach Carmen Mirochna said the second Varsity 8 is getting more aggressive and hopes to tap its supply of potential, while the Varsity 4 wants "to unleash some of (its) speed." But it is IU's top boat the others hope to emulate.\n"The Varsity 8 has found a comfortable, long and aggressive rhythm that we'd like to pick up throughout the rest of the team," said Mirochna, who last year at Cornell was selected Eastern Sprints Novice Coach of the Year. \nGeorgetown's Varsity 8 and second Varsity 8 recorded second-place finishes and the Novice 8 a first in its season-opener last week. North Carolina will launch its season tomorrow.\nThe task for the Hoosiers, however, might be dealing with the temperamental Potomac River, the race venue. Peterson, who coached at George Washington University in the nation's capital for seven years before arriving at IU, said the current is "tricky and shifts around a lot." It can be a challenge for any a crew. But one of the reasons Peterson came to IU is the benefit that comes from rowing on Bloomington's Lake Lemon.\n"Having a still-water lake on which to develop boat feel is a huge advantage," he said. "Hopefully, that advantage will carry over on the Potomac."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.
(03/23/05 5:32am)
In a meeting recently with one of my professors, it slipped out that I was finishing an article on rowing for the Indiana Daily Student. He broadened with curiosity.\n"We have a rowing team?"\n"It's a women's rowing team," I replied.\n"We have a women's rowing team?"\nThe professor, a Buckeye with sporting blood who once a semester dons a tawdry plaid blazer he calls "my Bobby Knight jacket," can name the horses that won at Saratoga in an era before most of his students were born. But few sports enthusiasts know that the tony New York locale, long before my professor came into the world, would draw as many as 30,000 fans who cheered for rowing crews instead of thoroughbreds.\nHolding anything against fans unaware of the oldest American intercollegiate sport (dating back to 1852) is unsportsmanlike. But a little sports iconoclasm at NCAA tourney time makes for good conversation not only here in B-town but in any Big Ten hood where the madding crowd hangs.\nThe madness this month shows more in the gush about "teamwork" than in the bickering about which fab five should get to the Big Dance. Talk of team effort in basketball sounds off key. When an entire squad can rely on the feats of its BMOC, or Big Man on Court, what else is there to conclude about the idea of collaborative exertion along the road to the Final Four.\nTo anyone who fully understands rowing, however, there's no dancing around the truth: Rowing is the definitive team sport.\nNo team has to work precisely together from start to finish as does a crew. Like a machine, rowers' movements must work in complete harmony. This simultaneous, rhythmic exactness distinguishes rowing. If any part breaks down, moreover, the entire crew fails.\n"Eight hearts must beat as one," innovative University of Washington boat builder George Pocock said in his biography by Gordon Newell.\nRowing requires an unusual supply of physical and mental iron will. When her mind wants to drift ashore, an oarswoman can't let it. When her muscles want to rest, she can't allow them. The crew depends on her, unlike in any other sport.\nLong before hoop dreams drove the multitudes to madness, rowing was the country's most popular spectator sport. A college eleven was for many years on the under card to the main event, the rowing race. There was no question about its rank in the pecking-order of sports.\n"But at the head and front of all athletic contests is rowing -- because it hurts the most," Waldron Kintzing Post wrote in "Harvard Stories."\nRower tough is tough enough, but oarswomen won't become million-dollar babies. Rowing lingers in the realm of unsung glory.\n"There are no stars in our sport, so anyone who does this has to want to do it because they love the challenges it presents, not because they are going to get much attention," IU coach Steve Peterson said.\nAmerican college women first feathered oars in 1879, but it was nearly a century later that a legend arrived on the rowing scene.\nA Badger out of the University of Wisconsin boathouse, Carie Graves was the cynosure of women's rowing when she famously led her pioneering American crew to a silver medal in the 1975 World Championships, a story told in Daniel J. Boyne's "The Red Rose Crew." The stroke -- or lead rower -- she was a ferocious competitor who pulled an oar with uncommon obstinacy.\nWhile later preparing for the Montreal Games, Graves describes in her diary a training session in which she was "cranking on it for my life." She recalls thinking, "I am my own God ... and if I died on this next stroke because I burst a blood vessel in my brain or my heart from pulling so hard, I don't care, because this is the ultimate."\nBut hero(ine) worship is not reason rowers take to the water. Nor is it the natural wonder they experience when the sun floats over tree tops at dawn, which can stir Wordsworthian awe or sotto voce prayers of joy and thanks. \nThe essential motivation that gets a rower back in the seat remains all about moving the boat over water. Wrote Pocock in an untitled poem: "And when you're rowing well / Why it's nearing perfection. / And when it's nearing perfection / You're touching the divine." \nFar from the madness in March the grandeur of rowing is.
(03/21/05 5:27am)
Senior Amanda Walker, the stroke in the IU rowing team's top boat, knew the assignment for the Hoosiers' training trip to Clemson, S.C. They had to prepare for a race at the end of the week instead of their usual scrimmage. \n"We have to put it together over spring break," she said in the IU weight room on the team's last hard day of practice before departing Bloomington. \nThat they did. The top boat -- also known as Varsity 8 -- triumphed Saturday at the Clemson Challenge regatta, covering the 2,000-meter course in calm water on Lake Hartwell in 6:53.00. Clemson placed second in 7:02.3 and Purdue third in 7:07.5. University of Buffalo came in fourth in 7:08.2, then Marist College in 7:26.5.\nIU got off to a powerful start and pulled to a four-seat lead by the 500-meter mark. The Hoosiers had an open-water advantage over Clemson at the midway point and cruised to an easy victory against the Tigers.\n"We rowed our own race at a strength we know how to row," said junior Ashley Airis. \nIU coach Steve Peterson drilled the team on its starts in the days prior to the contest and attributes the victory to the way the crew got off the line. \n"The good start kept us in the race and allowed us to relax and motor away from them when we got to the middle of the race," he said.\nPeterson knew his team would be stronger than the five crews on the line, so he was not concerned with a high stroke rating this early in the season. In practice during the week, he focused on developing a race rhythm and set a cap at 34 strokes per minute. \n"I wanted us to think of rowing well before we think of rowing higher," Peterson said.\nIU's second Varsity 8 finished its race in second place in 7:11.6, after Clemson's winning time of 6:59:6, while its third Varsity 8 came in sixth in the same event in 7:31.0, ahead of Purdue's seventh-place time of 7:36.5.\nThe Novice 8 crew, in its first intercollegiate contest, grabbed fourth place for the Hoosiers with a 7:32.9 finish behind Clemson's first-place time of 7:16.5. \nIU novice coach Fran O'Rourke said her crew's initial performance leaves her optimistic for the balance of the schedule. \n"Considering the experience, we're looking forward to making some improvements and picking up a lot of speed," she said.\nWhile the race signals the beginning of the racing season for the Hoosiers, it also means the end of the winter conditioning period with little time on the water and lots of time in the gym and on rowing machines. \n"It's a really good feeling and we're relieved," Airis said. "We're excited about how the season might go."\nThe trip and the victory get the momentum going in the right direction for the Hoosiers.\n"It was a good week, a great day," Peterson said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.