Rowers have back and forth weekend in California

It was a tale of two days for the IU rowing team at the Lake Natoma Invite on Saturday and Sunday in Gold River, Calif.

On Saturday, the team finished last in five of its six heats, competing against No. 10 Brown and No. 11 Wisconsin in the morning and No. 8 California and Texas in the afternoon, garnering just 15 points to finish seventh out of nine teams.

But the tides turned Sunday, as the team won its group by defeating Sacramento State and Tulsa in both the 1st and 2nd Varsity 8 and finishing second in the Varsity 4 race. IU finished with 17 points to top the group, followed by Tulsa’s 11 and Sacramento State’s 8.

“We definitely had mixed results this weekend,” IU Coach Steve Peterson said. “We came out here to race against the top programs in the country so we could take an honest look and see where we stand as a program and as individual crews.

“As a team, we still need to develop a little more depth. Our Varsity 4 struggled a bit this weekend in its races, and our 2nd Varsity 8 had its ups and downs.”

The 1st and 2nd Varsity 8, along with the 1st Varsity 4, were the only crews that competed during the weekend.

The 1st Varsity 8 managed to impress Peterson all weekend, he said. The crew picked up the Hoosiers’ only second-place finish Saturday, finishing just eight seconds behind No. 8 California’s top crew.

The crew also finished no more than nine seconds behind any of the crews it faced, something team members said they were especially proud of, given the level of competition.

“The (1st) Varsity 8 really proved it can row with the faster crews in the country,” Peterson said. “They really stepped up and not only showed we have speed, but they have also learned a lot about what else we can work on to close the gap on those crews between now and Big Tens.”

Sunday, the crew beat Tulsa by 11 seconds and Sacramento State by nearly 15 seconds to seal the group win for the Hoosiers.

“Going into the race, we were all pretty confident we could win this group,” said junior 1st Varsity 8 rower Katie Laine. “I think the most important thing was how we won, though. Once we walked away from the other two boats, we raced against ourselves and were able to post some times that would have been competitive for the groups above ours.”

Sophomore Asja Zero said the 1st Varsity 8 took a careful look at what it did well Saturday but also what it needed to improve for Sunday. She said the team’s ability to rebound and learn from its losses helped the team improve.

“If we were a team that never experienced a lost race, we would not know our weaknesses, and we would not know what to focus on during practice,” Zero said. “So, the past weekend was good because we turned it into a learning practice because that is what good athletes do. They shift their failures into something that will help them become a better team.”

Peterson’s next goal for his team is to produce winning results like those it posted Sunday earlier in tournaments.

“Now they just need to make sure they can bring this ‘A’ game in our first race of a regatta and not have it take several races,” Peterson said.