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INDIANAPOLIS — The University of Iowa women’s rowing team’s I Varsity Eight boat advanced to the A/B semifinals following a second-place finish in their heat on the first day of the 2019 NCAA Rowing Championships at Eagle Creek Park on Friday.
Iowa’s II Eight and I Four qualified for the C/D semifinals after finishing fifth and fourth in their heats, respectively.
Originally slated for an 8 a.m. (CT) start, the event was delayed until 3 p.m. due to debris on the course.
HOW IT HAPPENED
I Varsity Eight: Iowa got off to a steady start, trailing Princeton and Brown through 500 meters. But it didn’t take long for the Hawkeyes to gain ground on Brown, securing second place with Princeton separating itself. Iowa held a three-seat advantage over Brown for a majority of the race. In the last 500 meters, Brown made a final push, but Iowa responded by charging toward the finish and closing the gap on Princeton to finish two seconds behind them and one second ahead of Brown.
“They were pretty consistent,” Iowa head coach Andrew Carter said. “There were some spots in there where they weren’t too pleased with, so there is room for improvement, which is encouraging. Overall, they maintained their composure in the face of those hiccups. Brown is a very good crew to race and to get on top of them at the finish line is something they can hang their hat on.”
II Varsity Eight: Iowa tied for third off of the start as Stanford and Texas separated themselves from the rest of the pack. At 500 meters, Iowa was in fifth place, but the Hawkeyes gained ground on fourth-place Wisconsin getting within a seat length from overtaking the Badgers. However, Iowa remained in fifth place. At 1000 meters, Iowa was half a boat length away from Wisconsin as Stanford and Texas proved to be too much for the rest of the heat and the Hawkeyes finished fifth. They will compete in the C/D semifinals.
Varsity Four: Iowa began the race by settling into fourth place, half a length off of third, with Washington, Cal, and Brown separating themselves from the rest of the group. Iowa fell behind the top three, but extended its lead over Harvard by 2.5 lengths as the rest of the race saw little movement. Iowa secured its spot in the C/D semifinals tomorrow morning.
QUOTING COACH ANDREW CARTER
“Every team is going to handle (these delays) very differently. Our team has had an extraordinary year practicing all over the place. That really helped them today. With that said, it’s a tough thing to hear that you are racing and then not racing as it got pushed back. It disrupts things a bit, but the team did well.”
“The Four and II Varsity Eight were new combinations and we saw a great deal of consistency from their previous races. They brought their better game, but we are on the steep part of the learning curve, so we are expecting some better things in the semifinals and finals.”
QUOTING LOGAN JONES
“Our motto this season has been from Dan Gable about taking the fight to the competition. We took the fight to the competition today against some very tough crews. There is still more speed we can find. We can all agree on that. Tomorrow will be one of the hardest races, so we need to take the fight to them.”
LINEUPS
I Varsity 8: Naomi Visser, Elena Waiglein, Paige Schlapkohl, Hannah Greenlee, Hunter Koenigsfeld, Contessa Harold, Katie Pearson, Eve Stewart, Logan Jones (cx)
II Varsity 8: Claire Rutherford, Kayla Jensen, Rachel Kram, Molly Rygh, Riley Seufert, Lauren Collier, Lucie Daman, Rachel Canon, Faith Wieland (cx)
I Varsity Four: Allison Blevins, Nathalia Wellenreiter, Amalie Millerd, , Nina Lawrence, Katie Becker (cx)
UP NEXT
The I Eight starts the event tomorrow morning at 7:36 a.m. (CT) in the A/B semifinals. Watch the event live on NCAA.com.