Hoosier rowers finish 9th at Regionals

IU capped off the season in style Sunday at the Aramark South/Central Region Sprints on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. All four Hoosiers boats not only lined up in the petite finals but also gained 187 points to clinch seventh out of 11 teams in the Central Region and ninth out of 21 squads in the overall standings. \nThe effort put IU -- who until now saw only one of its shells advance to the petites -- ahead of vigorous crews at Texas, Clemson and No. 20 Louisville.\nNo. 9 Virginia took the team and South Region title with 372 points, while No. 4 Ohio State finished second claiming top honors in the Central Region with 366 points. \nThe Big Ten flexed its rowing muscle by putting six teams in the top 10 overall, with No. 7 Michigan in fourth, No. 3 Michigan State, the Big Ten champ, in sixth and No. 15 Minnesota in eighth, followed by IU. \n"Getting all of our boats into the petite final was our goal all season," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "This is a huge step forward for the program. It leaves them hungry for next year. It's definitely a big step for us."\nIU's varsity boats entered the regatta, which was delayed for three hours Saturday due to thunderstorms, seeded higher than in previous years, with the Varsity 8 at No. 9, the second Varsity 8 at No. 10 and the Varsity 4 at No. 13. \n"Starting with a seed like this is a huge advantage," Peterson said before travelling to Tennessee. \nThe Varsity 8, in the tightest contest of the petite finals, was one of four boats in a tussle for second place behind front-runner Minnesota. But the Hoosiers were out-sprinted placing fifth, ahead of Central Florida and behind Iowa in second, Notre Dame in third and Louisville in fourth.\nThe crew sharpened their start and smoothed out their transition into pace cadence over the spring, but the Varsity 8's Achilles heel has been the final 250 meters, when rowers put everything they have into cranking oars and propelling the shell across the line.\n"We have not had a great sprint all year," Peterson said. "When it got down to sprinting, I knew we were in a little bit of trouble. It's part of the race plan that we've never fully developed and perfected."\nContinuing its banner year, the second Varsity 8 beat Minnesota, Clemson and Duke for third place behind Texas in first and No. 11 Tennessee in second. \nThe Varsity 4, competing against three ranked crews, came in sixth, while the novice-filled Open 4 defeated Clemson, Miami (Fla.), Kansas and Duke for third place behind top finisher Tennessee and Cincinnati in second. \n"I was really proud of them," said assistant coach Fran O'Rourke of the Open 4, IU's first entry in the category. "They raced really hard and finished well compared to the competition they were up against." \nThe regatta results are all the more commendable given the activity on campus the past two weeks as the academic semester culminated. \n"There have been a few distractions with graduation and everybody starting summer classes," said senior stroke Amanda Walker, the first Hoosier to repeat as All Big Ten First Team, after the first of two practices last Wednesday. "But we're doing pretty good with it because we know how important regionals are."\n"We haven't had a bad practice all week," said sophomore Varsity 8 coxswain Betsy Hibbard, dashing off to class after a morning session of steady state pieces. \nIU rowers Sunday night pulled down the doors to the boathouse at Lake Lemon, where even on rough days the water caresses the dock, having earned respect in a historic season that ended in grand style.\n"It's not just the Varsity 8, not just two boats, but all four crews we sent to the regionals performed well in a very tough region," Peterson said. "It's great"