IU loses 2 at Big Ten Duals meet in Michigan

The IU rowing team fell to Michigan and Michigan State on Saturday at the Big Ten Duals in East Lansing, Mich. \nDespite strong headwinds and rough water in the later races, the Hoosiers handled it well and put up a fight against No. 11 Michigan and No. 20 Michigan State. The Hoosiers saw their toughest competition in the first varsity eight races. IU finished only eight seconds off Michigan in the morning but clocked in 13 seconds slower against Michigan State. \n“Both races felt pretty good overall,” said senior rower Kourtney Beckham. “We had good, strong starts in both races. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to sustain (the leads), but we raced a good race.”\nThe Hoosiers’ second varsity four brought home the team’s only win, against the Spartans. \n“We fell short in our morning’s race to Michigan, but we figured out what we needed to work on to be able to beat Michigan State in the afternoon,” said junior rower Marla Alexander. “We came together as a boat and made it happen. It was such an amazing feeling to be up on a crew and stay there.”\nIU faced Michigan in the morning race series and Michigan State in the afternoon. \nIU’s novice eight placed third behind two Michigan State crews. The Hoosiers’ second varsity eight got runner-up in both races with similar margins, coming in at 7:19:50 behind Michigan’s 7:08:43 finish and clocking in 8:02.65 after Michigan State’s time of 7:50.35. Although they didn’t pull off a win, the crew did find an opportunity to execute a modified race strategy during the afternoon. \n“After the first race, we were able to talk about technical changes the rowers needed to work on and specific calls I could use to help them and try to make those changes in the second race of the day,” said sophomore coxswain Madison Spruell. “I think they were really able to really focus in on those changes, as well as just pure cranking.”\nThe Hoosiers will be back in action on April 28 at the Big Ten championships at Wisconsin. Until then, the Hoosiers will make the most of the extra practice time. \n“I mean, you always strive to win races, but when you don’t, you have to learn from them and move forward to gain every ounce of speed you can,” Alexander said. “The next two weeks will give us a chance to find some of that speed and capitalize on it.