Iowa Rowing Travel to Head of the Rock

Oct. 11, 2009

Complete Results in PDF Format

ROCKFORD, IL- The University of Iowa’s rowing team competed at the Head of the Rock Sunday. The Hawkeyes competed in the Collegiate 8’s, Collegiate pairs and Collegiate 4’s. The Hawkeyes faced Wisconsin, Notre Dame, and Purdue along with other schools.

Iowa started strong in the women’s collegiate 8’s. Coming in second, Iowa finished with a time of 15:24.8 which was only 00:07.1 seconds behind Wisconsin’s winning team. It was also 00:23.3 seconds faster than Norte Dame’s fifth place finish. The Hawkeye “B” boat came in seventh (15:53.2), while the “C” squad placed 12th (16:53.7)

The Hawkeyes continued the competition with the collegiate pairs, placing five boats in the top 20. Iowa’s “A” team took sixth place with a time of 18:26.8. The rest of the collegiate pairs result sheet was full of Iowa times placing, ninth, 11th, 15th, 19th, and 21st.

“I was pleased with how aggressive the pairs rowed,” Head Coach Mandi Kowal said. “It was a big improvement over out last race. They did what they could and Wisconsin brought some fast crews.”

Iowa moved on the collegiate 4’s. The “B” team of junior Emily Melvold, sophomore Samantha Terrill, junior Darcy DeLong, sophomore Kaitlyn Caffrey and senior Katie Ouellette came in eighth with a time of 17:30.6. Iowa’s next boat came in 12th with a time of 17:56.2 which was 00:25.6 seconds behind Iowa’s “B” four.

“The “A” four looked long and strong but could have rowed higher,” said Kowal. “I thought our “B” four had the best look to them, really taping the boat along and looking light. I was very happy to see Emily Melvold’s approach to this race, she steered a great course and called a very good race. This impacted this crew substantially.”

“I thought the group did a nice job rebounding from a week of illnesses,” added Kowal. “They raced aggressively and once again, as one would expect, we gathered some helpful information about our crews and how we could gain more speed. Wisconsin continues to show speed and I am pleased to see we have closed the gap in the 8’s race.”

Iowa will host their next competition, The Head of the Iowa, October 25.

“Now we have two weeks to get ready to race at the Head of the Iowa,” commented Kowal. “We haven’t raced on our home course for more than two years. The team is looking forward to racing in front of the home crowd, with our new format and showing how far they have come”.