May 8, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
THIS WEEK: The University of Iowa rowing team will travel to Oak Ridge,TN, to compete in the Aramark Central/South Region Sprints Saturday and Sunday. The regatta serves as a precursor to the National Championships, which will take place May 25-28 in West Windsor, NJ.
THE RACE: Racing will take place on a 2000 meter course on Melton Hill Lake. There will be six races in total. The Hawkeyes will compete in the 1V8+, 2V8+, V4+ and N8+.
THE COMPETITION: Iowa will row with the six other Big Ten teams in this regatta. Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota are all ranked the in top 10 of the latest CRCA/USRowing poll. In total, there will be 21 teams from around the central and south regions. In last year’s regatta, Virginia was the overall winner and Ohio State took second place. Iowa finished 13th overall and eighth in the central region in 2005.
LAST TIME OUT: The Hawkeyes competed in the Big Ten Championships on April 29. Iowa defeated Ohio State to win the 2V8+ Petite Final. The squad came in second in four other Petite Finals and took third in the 2V4+ Petite Final. Overall, Ohio State finished in first place. The Hawkeyes took sixth to improve one place from their 2005 finish.
HEAD COACH: Mandi Kowal is in her 12th year as head coach of the Hawkeyes. In the 1997 and 1998 NCAA Rowing Championships, she coached the Varsity 4+ teams to fourth and eighth-places finishes, respectively. Kowal began her rowing career at the University of Wisconsin in 1981. She was a two-time rowing World Champion in the Women’s Lightweight 4- (1986-1987). She was named Female Athlete of the Year in 1987 by the US Rowing Association and was inducted into the United States Rowing Hall of Fame in 1997.
QUOTING COACH KOWAL: “Everyone is looking forward to the upcoming weekend. First of all, our exams will be done. Then we will be able to enjoy one of the best regattas in the country. There will be 21 schools represented here with an intense progression system. It’s our goal to move up in the rankings and finish with a better series than last year. We have had some difficult practices in the past two days which are a result of being in our exam period, but I know once we arrive in Tennessee, we will see a huge weight lifted off our shoulders and the rowers will aim to finish the year with a bang.”