IU disappointed after scrimmage against Bearcats, will travel to Boston for weekend

The IU women's rowing team left Lake Lemon disappointed after being defeated by the University of Cincinnati in Sunday's race. \nIn the first competition of the 2006-07 season, the Hoosiers raced their first, second and freshman boats against the Bearcats' first and second boats. The teams competed in both a head race and five two-minute races as part of the scrimmage.\n"We are good enough to beat Cincinnati's crew, but we almost got a little too confident and waited too long to go hard," said assistant coach Fran O'Rourke. "Our program is obviously stronger than that of Cincinnati's, and reflecting back on the week, maybe we could have raced with a little more guts."\nDuring the head race -- a 4,000-meter time trial in which crews race against the clock -- Cincinnati finished with a time of 16:15, 13 seconds faster than the Hoosiers. However, Cincinnati's second boat finished behind all three IU boats. Though they were behind for most of the race, IU's first boat made up huge margins in the last 1,500 meters of the race, O'Rourke said. \n"Their first eight started off the line more aggressive and at a faster stroke rating than we did," said senior Dana Powell, who rowed in the first boat. "We rowed well and had good technique, but we didn't go after it enough."\nThe freshman boat showed a strong performance throughout the day, coming in just four seconds behind IU's second boat in the head race. \n"The freshman eight realized that on any given day, you are still racing yourself and have to push yourself no matter who the competition is," O'Rourke said.\nThe Hoosiers saw more success in the two-minute set pieces, the first boat winning three out of the five races. The Bearcats' first boat won the other two pieces.\n"Even though we lost, we are going to work hard this week to make changes in our boat," Powell said. "This was just a scrimmage and the first race of the season, so there is plenty of time to improve."\nThe Hoosiers will travel to Boston this weekend to race in the prestigious Head of the Charles, which attracts more than 7,500 rowers, from high school students to Olympic-caliber athletes. \n"Based on our weekend against Cincinnati, our goal is to find the fastest crew that our team has right now," O'Rourke said. "Right now we are looking to represent Indiana the best we can and are focusing on having a solid race next weekend"