Iowa rowing will host its first scrimmage of the year today at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 8 a.m. on the Iowa River. The Hawkeyes will race Indiana and Wisconsin.

Last season at the NCAA rowing championships in May, the Badgers’ varsity crew rowed its way to a ninth place in the final team standings. The Hoosiers finished 12th in the standings, and the Hawkeyes came in at 15th.

The varsity crews will race today. Boats will do two single-file time trials against the clock, with the lowest times winning the scrimmage.

“Everyone seems to be in very good spirits,” Iowa head coach Andrew Carter said. “I’ve seen quite a bit of progress this season so far.”

On Saturday, the varsity crews will race six 1,000-meter repeats, and the Novice crews will race six 600-meter repeats.

Iowa’s last competition saw its novice crews compete at the Head of Des Moines Regatta on Sept. 30. The novice 4+ crew of Katherine Rygh, Olivia Hansen, Kayla Jensen, Chloe Creekmur, and coxswain Madeline Baron won their event in 19:50.927. Iowa’s other Novice 4+ team finished third in the event, clocking a time of 21:43.201.

Iowa had success in the Novice 8+ as well. The crew of Rygh, Hansen, Jensen, Charlotte Lekaitis, Heidi Mentz, Hailey Weisensel, Tessa Walsh, Creekmur, and coxswain Emily Carroll took home the gold with a time of 18:08.087.

Iowa’s third-place crew finished in 19:18.598, and its fourth-place crew finished in 22:25.276

Today and Saturday mark the first time this fall season for that the varsity crews will compete.