IU to face Wisconsin in 1st home scrimmage

Weather permitting, the IU rowing team will get on the water this weekend for its first home scrimmage of the season against Wisconsin.\nThe Hoosiers’ top three varsity boats will go head-to-head against the Badgers’ top boats Saturday during a 3x1500-meter scrimmage on Lake Lemon. \n“Instead of doing one 2,000-meter race, we are breaking the competition up into three 1,500-meter pieces so we can get a little more racing time in,” IU coach Steve Peterson said. “Neither of us have had a lot of time on the water, and it’s going to be a great opportunity for both crews to prepare for the spring season.”\nAfter a long winter of indoor training and a successful spring break training trip, the team is ready to show something for the time it has dedicated to preparing for the racing season.\n“We have a fast team this year and we’ve worked hard. Now it is time for results on the water,” junior Kiri Crane said. “Last year, my boat came in second in the Big Ten championship behind Wisconsin by only a few seconds. This year, we are racing different lineups, but we’re at our lake, so I want each boat to walk away from the race successful in defending our home course.”\nWisconsin’s rowing program is one of the top-ranked in the country, and its top varsity boat will be returning almost all rowers, Peterson said. \n“They are an experienced crew, and we’re a young team made up of a lot of sophomores and freshmen,” he said. “At the same time, we got a lot of good race plans established during spring break training, and we’ve done very well against the clock in our practices. This is going to be a very good matchup.” \nPeterson said breaking the racing into three shorter pieces will allow the coaches to talk to rowers after each race and tweak racing strategies.\nThe Hoosiers had their first race of the season last weekend after their training trip, defeating Purdue and Marist but losing to Clemson. \n“We fell just short of our main goal at Clemson – winning,” Crane said. “We know what we have to do this weekend, and I hope that after coming second in Clemson we realize that second isn’t enough, and we need to come away from this weekend’s race with a win.”\nDespite Wisconsin’s strong winning record, Peterson said the Hoosiers’ main obstacle will be keeping their composure.\n“Our biggest challenge this weekend is going to be to execute our plan and execute it well,” sophomore Jamie Spoto said. “After having some great practices during spring break and performing poorly, we realized we need to perform consistently and prepare physically and mentally every day, from race to practice.”\nFollowing the scrimmage there will be a dedication for the first phase of the new boathouse, named after Dale England, father of a former IU rower and generous supporter of the program.