Hawkeyes Head to the Big Ten Championships

May 12, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK: Iowa will travel to the 2011 Big Ten Championships Sunday. The University of Indiana is hosting the event at the Indianapolis Rowing Center at Eagle Creek Park.

THE VENUE: The race is down a 2000m stretch of Eagle Creek Reservoir in Eagle Creek Park. The park is the fourth largest city park in the nation. The park conisists of 3,900 acres of wooded terrain and medows, and 1,300 acres of water.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Event Race Time Novice II Eights 9:00
Novice I Eights 9:20
II Fours 9:40
I Fours 10:00
II Eights 10:20
I Eights 10:40
Awards Presentation Noon

LAST EVENT: The University of Iowa’s rowing team last competed at the East Coast race in Ithaca, N.Y. The Hawkeyes advanced their 1V4 and 2V8 to the `winners’ race’ and the 1V8 to the consolation race.

Iowa’s 1V4 boat was undefeated on the day. The boat won its first race in the morning to advance to the `winners race’ in the after. The crew faced Cornell and Buffalo in the winner’s race and posted another victory with a time of 8:17.9.

The Hawkeyes 2V8 also advanced to the winners’ race after a victory in the morning session where the crew took second place with a time of 7:24.7, finishing behind Cornell by only 2.9 seconds and ahead of the University of Rhode Island.

Iowa’s 1V8 boat marked a second place finish in the morning race to advance to the consolation race in the afternoon. The crew raced Dartmouth and Buffalo in the consolation and finished in second place at 7:27.2.

HOME OF THE HAWKEYES: The P. Sue Beckwith, M.D., Boathouse was dedicated September 18, 2009. The state of the art facility for the Hawkeyes is located within the city of Iowa City’s Terrell Mill Park, next to the Iowa River.

It is an ideal site to fulfill all the needs of the rowing team. More efficient boat storage racks, an indoor rowing tank, and an erg room (for machine rowing) are incorporated in the building.

HEAD COACH: Mandi Kowal is in her 16th 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: “It’s hard to believe our championships is just around the corner. The season has gone by fast. I think this year’s championships will be exciting. We have a new format (racing 7 boats across), we will race at a neutral site and many crews have increased their respective speeds since the beginning of the spring. It will be one not to miss.”