The Iowa rowing team finished the Sunshine State Invitational with a grand final victory on Saturday afternoon.

Iowa had two Varsity Eight boats in the first round of the invitational on Friday. Both boats placed third, placing them in the grand finals on Saturday. The Iowa Varsity Four also qualified to compete in the grand finals at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.

“We are very excited to see continuous progress with all crews,” Iowa rowing head coach Jeff Garbutt said in a Friday release. “We’re ready to get back on the water tomorrow and try to row faster.”

The Varsity Eight boats also found success in their grand finals matches on Saturday. The Varsity Eight placed second with a six minute and 31.21 second time, trailing only University of Central Florida by three seconds.

The Second Varsity Eight placed fourth in its heat with a time of 6:40.61. The Varsity Four won its grand final with a 7:20.66 time

“Today was a great day for the program,” Garbutt said in a Saturday release. “We had a good part of the roster pick up their first wins in rowing. Every boat got faster in the finals and really showed a new level of racing maturity. I am so proud of them all and can’t wait to see what they can do as we continue to get more practice strokes in this season. ”

Big Picture

Iowa finished its second regatta of the spring season this weekend. The Hawkeyes have picked up victories in each of its regattas so far in 2022.

Up Next

Iowa will hit the road again as it travels to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in the Pac-12 Invite on April 9.