April 10, 2007
THIS WEEK: The University of Iowa women’s rowing team will travel to Lake Phalen in St. Paul, MN. Racing will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday and continue throughout the day.
LAKE PHALEN: The lake features a three lane, 2,000-meter course ideal for spring double duals. Teams participating in this double dual are Big Ten rivals Wisconsin and Minnesota, along with Oregon State and Drake.
THE COMPETITION: Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oregon State are all ranked among the top 20 V8+ in the nation. Hosting team Minnesota currently holds the No. 11 spot, while Wisconsin comes in at No. 15 and Oregon State is tied at No. 17.
This will be the first time, this spring season, the Hawkeyes will race against Oregon State, Wisconsin, or Drake.
Iowa last saw Minnesota when they hosted the Gophers and Creighton at Lake Macbride on March 31. Minnesota was the dominating force throughout the day scoring wins in each event.
GW INVITATIONAL: Friday, the Hawkeyes took three second place finishes. In the first novice eight race Iowa finished between Navy (6:39.4) and Navy B (7:03.1) in a time of 6:43.1. Crossing the finish line in 6:29.8, the 2V8+ for Iowa finished just behind Navy. The second V8+ proved to be much like the other two races as Iowa (6:15.7) finished second not far behind Navy (6:13.9).
The Hawkeyes scored two wins over George Washington on Saturday. In an impressive novice eight race Iowa finished ahead of George Washington by 0:24.1. The other win came from the V8+, where Iowa edged GW by three tenths of a second. Iowa’s (6:34.3) N8+ placed second behind Clemson (6:33.3). The V8+ finished second in a time of 6:28.5 behind Clemson (6:23.5). In both 2V8+ Iowa could not get pass Clemson (6:35.0, 6:40.0) and placed second with times of 6:41.1 and 6:45.9.
HEAD COACH: Mandi Kowal is in her 13th 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.
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