Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2018-19 | PAC 12 Mar 30 31 Notes
THIS WEEK
The No. 11 University of Iowa women’s rowing team will compete this weekend in the 2019 PAC-12 Invitational in Redwood Shores, California. The two-day competition takes place March 30-31 and lasts all day. The Hawkeyes will face No. 1 Cal-Berkeley, No. 3 Stanford, and No. 12 USC.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The Hawkeyes will first hit the water against USC at 11:20 AM (CT) on Saturday morning with the 1V8 boat, followed by the 2V8 at 11:50AM and 1V4 at 12:20 PM.
Iowa will return for the day’s second session at 5 PM (CT) with the 1V8 boat against Stanford, followed by the 2V8 at 5:30 and 1V4 at 6 PM.
The final session on Sunday will begin at 11:40 AM (CT) with the 1V8 boat against Cal-Berkeley, followed by the 2V8 at noon and 1V4 at 12:20 PM.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The 2018-19 roster is composed of athletes from eight different states and five different countries. Iowa leads the roster with 20 athletes from the home state, followed by border neighbors Illinois (6) and Minnesota (3).
Newcomers holding a promising future for the program include 19 freshman on the 2018-19 squad. The team retained nine sophomores, eight juniors, and has 10 seniors returning for their final season. In addition, the roster includes one athlete on their fifth year of eligibility.
The roster also includes several international athletes from Canada, Netherlands, Serbia, and England.
CRCA AWARD WINNERS
The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association announced June 4, 2018 that University of Iowa head coach Andrew Carter was the CRCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, along with five Hawkeyes that earned CRCA National Scholar Athlete awards.
Carter’s recognition marked the second year in a row for this honor, and listed him as a finalist for the CRCA Division I National Coach of the Year.
The five student-athletes recognized with academic honors included Rachel Canon, Kaelynn Heiberg, Logan Jones, Gemma Kerr, and Hunter Koenigsfeld. To qualify, all five Hawkeyes had to maintain a 3.5 cumulative GPA, and row in a minimum of 75-percent of the team’s races while competing in an NCAA-eligible boat. This award marked the third straight year that Heiberg and Kerr had been recognized with the academic award, and the second straight year for Canon and Jones.
So far in Carter’s tenure at Iowa, 28 Hawkeyes have earned this prestigious award.
TRAINING PREPERATION
The Hawkeyes encountered difficulty training late in the fall with flooding on the Iowa River, so they turned to other means. Aside from practice in the P. Sue Beckwith, M.D., Boathouse, the team ventured to Waco, Texas, to take to the water over spring break. Lake MacBride also saw action from a few boats.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
Iowa returns two Collegiate Rowers Coaches Association All-American – Contessa Harold (first team) and Hunter Koenigsfeld (second team). The two rowers competed in all 11 races in 2018, guiding Iowa to a fourth place finish and school record 111 points at the Big Ten Championships. At the NCAA Championships, Iowa placed 11th overall, its highest finish in modern history.
FALL PREPERATION
The Hawkeyes have prepared all winter for this debut, their last event being the Head of the Charles on Oct. 20. Iowa also competed in the JayHawk Jamboree, hosted by Kansas, and faced Indiana and Wisconsin in scrimmage during the fall.
HAWKEYE HISTORY
The Hawkeyes have made three NCAA appearances in school history, two of which came in the past two seasons. Iowa first advanced to nationals in 2001, placing ninth overall.
In 2017, the Hawkeyes ended a 16-year postseason drought, earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships and placing 15th overall (54 points). They one-upped that performance with a school record 69 points in the 2018 NCAA Championships after advancing all three of its boats to the NCAA Petite Finals. This effort combined with finishes from the II Varsity Eight, I Varsity Four, 2V8 and 1V4 earned the team 11th place, its highest in program history.
RETURNING LINEUP
The team returns several starters from last year’s crew, including Hannah Greenlee, Hunter Koenigsfeld, Contessa Harold, Katie Pearson, Eve Stewart, and Logan Jones. This crew saw action in the I Varsity Eight boat.
The Hawkeyes also return four athletes from the II Varsity Eight boat, including Claire Rutherford, Paige Schlapkohl, Rachel Canon, and Faith Wieland. The team also returns Kayla Jensen, the sole returner from the I Varsity Four boat.
UPCOMING MATCHUPS
The PAC-12 Invitational will start off the rankings on March 30. The invitational is a two day meet, and will feature teams from all across the country at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center in Gold River, California.
The Hawkeyes will also travel to face Harvard and Brown in Providence, RI., and attend the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, before attending the B1G Ten Championships on May 19.
Iowa will host Minnesota and Wisconsin on April 13 for their sole home event of the season.
B1G HISTORY
Iowa set a school record with 111 points and matched its best finish in program history with a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Big Ten Championships on May 13.
The Hawkeyes have improved one spot in the conference standings the past five seasons under Andrew Carter. In his first season as Iowa’s head coach, Carter and the Hawkeyes placed seventh with 39 points. In 2015, Iowa moved up one spot to sixth with 79 points, continuing the trend to 2016 after placing fifth with 95 points. In 2017, the team set a then-school record with 106 points, tying for fourth place. The Hawkeyes’ 2017 Big Ten Conference Championships performance led to the second NCAA Championships berth in school history. The team would qualify again in 2018.
