Crew off and rowing

The women's rowing team began its fall season Saturday at the Fourth Annual Lemonhead Regatta at Bloomington's Lake Lemon. \nDespite the cool and breezy air, both Hoosier boats placed in the women's collegiate novice four event. Boat A finished first with a time of 19:34, a best time for the Hoosiers, and boat B finished third with a time of 19:54.\n"I was happy with the novice today," said head coach Mark Wilson. "The novice is going to get better with every practice and race."\nIU's varsity boat A finished the women's collegiate open eight with time of 16:26 for a fifth-place finish. Although the time was one of the fastest for the Hoosiers at Lake Lemon, Wilson would like to have seen a better result.\n"A fifth-place finish was not our goal as we were coming in as the defending champion in the varsity eight. That is not where I want to be," Wilson said.\nThe weather and the lake conditions got worse as the day progressed. Final times began to rise and the last three events of the day were canceled. The varsity squads performance in the women's open four was affected by the change in weather.\n"There were totally different conditions for each race," said coxswain Becky England, a junior. "The four was much worse than the eight. We had waves splashing over the sides of the boat and it filled with about six inches." \nDespite the cruel weather and the canceled events, Wilson was pleased with the Hoosiers opening season competition.\n"This was the first race of the year, I hope everyone learned something," Wilson said. "I thought everyone did a great job"