IU takes 6th place at Big Tens

IU climbed out of the gloomy basement of the Big Ten and into gleeful sixth place with 46 points and its best-ever finish at the Big Ten Championship on Bloomington's Lake Lemon Saturday. \nNo. 7 Michigan State, trailing by eight points and in third place overall heading into the final race, won the conference crown with a first-place total of 130. No. 4 Ohio State came in second with 129 points and No. 14 Wisconsin recorded 106 points for third. No. 3 Michigan, the defending Big Ten champion, placed fourth with 103 points, while No. 15 Minnesota took fifth and No. 20 Iowa ended up seventh with 22 points.\nIU's Varsity 8 and second Varsity 4 knocked off No. 20 Iowa, while the second Varsity 8 downed Iowa and No. 15 Minnesota.\n"We are able to say we were racing right with the Big Ten schools, who are all ranked," said senior Varsity 8 stroke Amanda Walker. "It's a big accomplishment."\n"This means we're making progress," said IU coach Steve Peterson. "But we're trying to build a program, a big successful program. So as a team this is a huge, huge step forward."\nThe key to the Varsity 8's first victory over a ranked team in school history came before the official dropped the flag for the morning preliminary race. After pushing off in choppy water stirred by a brisk wind, the crew did not shake its normal pre-race jitters. Sophomore coxswain Betsy Hibbard steered the boat to a secluded part of the warm up area and led the crew in a yell designed to release the tension. \n"Nobody was expecting anything from us, and we were sick of everyone not expecting anything from us," Hibbard said. "So we decided that from the first stroke we were going to go after them. We did what we had to do." \nHibbard's strategy worked. IU beat Iowa by more than four seconds, finishing bow to stern with Michigan State for second place. \nSenior Elisabeth Benoit, who was moved into the Varsity 8 from the second Varsity 8 when Peterson swapped two rowers in each boat for the race, said beating Iowa was not a fluke and urged her crew to "do it again." They did, but finished second to Minnesota in the Petite Final. \nThe Hoosier second Varsity 8 took top honors in their Petite Final and placed fifth in the Big Ten by edging Minnesota, 6 minutes, 45.2 seconds to 6:45.82. Dropping Iowa early, IU and Minnesota traded a three-seat lead, with the Golden Gophers holding on to the advantage with less than 500 meters to go. But IU shifted early into sprint cadence and picked up a seat, gaining three more seats in the final five strokes to claim victory in the closest finish of the day.\n"We decided we weren't going to let (Minnesota beat us)," said sophomore Elaine Deppe. "When we decided to go, we really went with it." \nThe first Varsity 4 earned points for the Hoosiers when they took down Iowa in their Petite Final and finished second behind Ohio State, while the second Varsity 4 added to the total with their second-pace finished behind Minnesota in the Petite Final. \nOut of the Big Ten cellar, the happy Hoosiers better understand their coach's words after the race. \n"There's nothing magical to this," Peterson said to his team. "You row like this everyday." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Bill \nMeehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.