April 12, 2008
Washington, D.C.-
The University of Iowa women’s rowing team won the Howard W. Wilkins Bowl for having the highest women’s point total with 108 in the George Washington Invitational Saturday. Navy finished second in the women’s races with 95 points, Saint Joseph placed third with 57 points, with George Washington, George Mason, Georgetown California and MIT placing respectively.
Navy took home the Gilbert H. Hood, Jr. Point Trophy after finishing in first place in the combined points with a team total of 174. Syracuse followed with 114, with Iowa and Georgetown tying for third overall with 108 points. Host George Washington rounded out the competition, placing fifth with a team total of 103.
The Hawkeyes posted two wins, against Navy and George Washington, during Friday’s competition. Iowa placed first in the N8+ with a final time of 6:58.8 over Navy.
“I really like this race because it gives such a young group of rowers the opportunity to practice their race plan and make small adjustments three time in such a short period,” said Novice Coach Chuck Rodosky. “I feel they learn a lot more because the races are in such a condensed period of time.”
Varsity came out strong again, posting a big victory against George Washington in the V8+, with a time of 6:43.9. Iowa came close in the 2V8+, falling to Navy with a time of 7:02.6.
Iowa finished day two of competition strong, with both the N8+ and V8+ going undefeated overall.
“The toughest victory was Saturday mornings Varsity 8 race against Navy,” said Hawkeye Head Coach Mandi Kowal. “It was a close race with Iowa capturing the lead early and holding on after various Navy attacks.”
Coach Rodosky was pleased with his undefeated novice crew this weekend.
“I am very proud of the three wins, more so because of the small adjustments the rowers made and the large improvements they saw from race to race, said Coach Rodosky. “I think this sets us up very well for our Big10 competition next week.”
“We had a solid weekend of races,” said Coach Kowal. “The team had 7 victories out of 9 races, which was a huge improvement over last year. We were pleased with the aggressiveness that our crews showed in every race. We made some improvements over last weekends racing performance and once again have specific elements we will be working on to gain more speed as we face Indiana and Ohio State next weekend.”
Iowa boats return to the water April 19 at Double Dual in Columbus, OH.