Hoosiers come up empty

The IU rowing team got a pretty good taste for what the Big Ten championships might be like when it finished up its home regattas for the season this past Saturday.\nThe Hoosiers played host to some strong Big Ten crews, including Iowa, Minnesota, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 13 Wisconsin at Lake Lemon, where sunny skies, warm weather and only a slight breeze highlighted the day's racing conditions. \nThe Hoosiers rowed five different boats with five different crews for the regatta, which consisted of a varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four, second varsity four and novice eight. Each boat raced against Wisconsin and Iowa in the morning session and against Minnesota in the afternoon. The Hoosiers did not compete against the No. 1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.\nWisconsin was victorious in all of its morning races against IU and Iowa, and Minnesota was the dominant force in the afternoon. The Hoosiers lost all of their races.\nDespite the losses, IU coach Steve Peterson was more than pleased with his team's performance Saturday.\n"I was excited," Peterson said. "I thought the racing itself went well. I was really excited for the novice and first varsity. Everything we need a crew to do, they're doing. With the varsity, in the morning row, they were excited about things and didn't row as confident as they had been. In the afternoon row, we talked about trying to settle things down and be more efficient with the stroke."\nThe Badgers and Hawkeyes pulled to an early lead over the varsity eight but the Hoosiers made up lost time and finished with a time of six minutes and 45.12 seconds, just 10 seconds behind Wisconsin and eight behind Iowa. \nThe varsity eight kept pace with Minnesota later in the afternoon until the closing meters when the Golden Gophers made a final sprint for a time of 6:55.9. The Hoosiers finished five seconds later with a time of 7:01.26.\n"The first race, Iowa and Wisconsin really pulled off on the start," co-captain and senior Amanda Walker said. "We had a couple strokes that didn't go as well on the start, and that put us behind. The second race, I felt really happy with how we rowed, and I think we are really proud about how much we gave on the water." \nThe Hoosiers now have a two-week break to prepare for the Big Ten Championships May 1 in Iowa City, Iowa.\n-- Contact staff writer John Fischer at jbfische@indiana.edu.