Hoosiers going strong despite tough weather

Saturday the IU women's rowing team traveled to Indianapolis to take part in the Big Ten/Big East Double Dual. Facing opponents Notre Dame, Purdue, Wisconsin, the University of California and the University of Louisville, the Hoosiers had more than competition to keep up with. \nBecause of high winds -- including a strong tail wind -- waves made for increasingly rough conditions on the water. The afternoon's race was postponed until Sunday's heat, which paired IU against Wisconsin and the defending national champions, \nCalifornia. \nThe first varsity 8 squad came up just short behind the Fighting Irish, who clocked in at 6 minutes 11.0 seconds. The Hoosiers, finishing at 6:16.7, beat out the Boilermakers' time of 6:59.5.\n"We rowed a good race in the varsity 8, but not our best," IU coach Steve Peterson said. "We knew that facing No. 11 Notre Dame as well as Purdue in conditions like this, we would need to race our best to beat them."\nComing off the start and through the first quarter of the race, the Hoosiers went stroke-for-stroke with the Irish. As the water got rougher through the middle of the race, however, Notre Dame's experience and size gave it an edge that moved its shell farther ahead, Peterson said. \nHowever, Notre Dame and Wisconsin led the pack in both the varsity and novice four races. The first varsity 4 crew finished third (7:22.3), while Wisconsin finished first (6:57.1) ahead of Notre Dame (7:14.0). The second varsity squad also placed third in 7:52.6, behind Wisconsin, who finished the race at 7:17.1.\nIt was a different story for IU's novice squads. The first novice 8 group finished its race with a time of 6:39.5, 11 seconds before Notre Dame completed the race. Purdue came in last, clocking 7:21.8.\nWith momentum high, the second novice contingent also won its heat. The cream and crimson sped to the finish line at 6:38.9, beating out both Purdue and Notre Dame for first place accolades.\n"As you can see by the results, both novice crews won again ... in fact they dominated," Peterson said. "We are extremely excited with these results because it shows the potential for the future the team has"