Hawkeye rowing has success, room for improvement at lone home meet
The Iowa rowing squad found areas in which to improve over the weekend, and three Hawkeyes received exciting news.
The Iowa varsity 8 crew looks to their supporters on the shore as they row back to the dock at the end of the first session of a women’s rowing meet on Lake MacBride on Saturday April 13, 2019.
April 14, 2019
The Iowa rowing team hosted Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana at Lake Macbride in the Big Ten Double Dual on April 13 for the team’s first home meet since 2016. The Hawkeyes picked up victories in novice and varsity boats.
“It was great to be able to hold a home event,” head coach Andrew Carter said in a release. “We had so many supporters here for us, and the kids are comfortable on this lake. We’re all great friends — the coaches in the Big Ten — so it’s great to have friends over to your house every once in a while.
“We learned some things from today, and we had encouraging results from our inexperienced rowers in the novice 8, who hadn’t experienced a race day before. Our varsity 8 has stayed on form and got done what they needed to get done.”
The Hawkeye I Novice 8 boat and the I Varsity 8 boat had plenty of success.
The Novice 8 won its first race of the season on an upset over the Badgers by seven seconds. In the afternoon, the Gophers finished ahead the Hawkeyes by a boat length.
The only other wins for the Hawkeyes came from 1V8. It upset No. 11 Wisconsin by 7.5 seconds in the morning and continued to have success against Minnesota. The Hawkeyes beat the Gophers by five seconds while securing the fastest time on the course of the day with a time of 7:01.84.
The other four boats — II Novice 8, II Varsity 4, I Varsity 4, and II Varsity 8 — were unable to beat the competition.
“We identified some scenarios we need to work on,” Carter said in a release. “We need to work on some technical points and staying focused and composed during the stress of racing. Water conditions were very fair in that all crews faced the same challenges, but I think in several circumstances, our opponents managed those better than we did. This was one of those character-building days where we had to deal with headwinds, crosswinds, and bouncing around.”
Hannah Greenlee, a member of Iowa’s successful IV8 boat, saw the advantages of hosting a meet, which is rare for the Hawkeyes.
“We have spent a lot of time on Lake Macbride, so it was great to finally be able to race here,” Greenlee said in a release. “It was my first time racing here, and it was nice to have the lay of the land. We had confidence going into the event but much respect to the other teams for how they raced today. We’re going to need to be effective coming down the stretch, but we have confidence in our abilities.”
Three Hawkeyes also garnered some exclusive honors.
Greenlee and fellow juniors Contessa Harold and Hunter Koenigsfeld have been invited to attend the U23 World Rowing Championships Team selection camp in Charlottesville, Virginia. If chosen, they individuals will get the chance to participate in the Rowing World Championships on July 24-28.
The three Hawkeyes and the rest of the rowers will be back to their traveling ways as they head to Providence, Rhode Island, April 19 and 21 to race Brown and Harvard.
