Hoosiers' second team defeats No. 13 Spartans

At its second away meet of the spring season, the IU women's rowing team nudged the second novice eight squad -- the team's second group of rowers -- to the meet's only victory against Michigan State on Saturday. \nComposed of Carlie Boese, Liz Marshall, Marla Alexander, Stephanie Hamilton, Rachel Bernhardt, Ariana Breckner, Stephanie Horvath, Nadia Haven and Christina Vernon, the boat surpassed its rival with a 10-second gap at the finish line. \n"They rode hard together as a team," said assistant coach Fran O'Rourke. "We are excited to compete against other teams, but we need to go back and fix a few things." \nIU had the only group to defeat the No. 13 Spartans. \nThe mainly freshman and sophomore first novice squad fell to its State counterpart, just a few seconds shy of a first-place finish. The varsity eight squad, led by Betsy Hibbard and Elaine Deppe, was defeated by both State's first varsity eight and second varsity eight teams.\n"Coming into the regatta, we had higher hopes than what we accomplished," coach Steve Peterson said in a statement. "We fell back on execution today. We went after it and tried, but forgot to think as well as pulling hard. We ended up just flailing out there."\nThe Hoosiers' first varsity four boat of Hibbard, Laura Stebbins, Erin Kuehn, Dana Powell and Ashley Airis, completed its heat just 18 seconds shy of Michigan State's lead. In addition, the novice four freshman quintet took second place as well.\n"We have been working hard, but Michigan State is an accomplished team," said assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Carmen Mirochna. "We will continue to strengthen our regular-season conditioning."\nThe cream and crimson will race at home this Saturday against Eastern Michigan, Cincinnati and Dayton at Lake Lemon.