Crew looks to keep momentum against Hawkeyes this weekend

Tomorrow, the Michigan women's rowing team will continue its overachieving season when it hosts Big Ten rival Iowa. The Wolverines hope that they will be able to duplicate the feat at Belleville Lake, like their win two weekends ago against No. 3 Virginia.

The Wolverines are coming off a very impressive showing against top-ranked Washington last weekend in San Diego.

They finished just over three seconds behind the defending national champ.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily The Michigan women's rowing team, which faired well against top-ranked San Diego last weekend, hosts conference rival Iowa, Saturday.

In doing so, the Wolverines became the first team in the last two years to finish within 10 seconds of the Huskies.

"We're on the rise and still feel very strong," junior rower Michelle Wolbert said.

"We didn't race our best race. If anything, the loss to Washington has built our confidence. We now know that they are beatable."

In the varsity-eight race against Washington, the Wolverines got off to a poor start.

Washington got ahead early and had a fairly convincing lead at the 1,000-meter mark.

Despite all of this, the Wolverines had a great spurt at the end of the regatta, coming just a few lengths short of another upset.

In Iowa, the Wolverines are competing against a team that is riding the momentum of its first-ever rowing sweep.

Last weekend, the Hawkeyes won every race in their quad meet as they triumphed over Drake, Kansas and Kansas State.

This will be the second straight season that the Wolverines face the Hawkeyes.

Last season's meeting in Iowa City yielded good results for the Wolverines, as the competition turned into a mismatch.

The Wolverines took advantage of an inexperienced Iowa squad to compile blowout victories in both the varsity and junior varsity boats.

Although this year's regatta again has Michigan as a heavy favorite, a loss to the Hawkeyes would be detrimental to Michigan's status for Nationals.

"The later into the season we get, the more important the races become," said Wolbert.

The Wolverines are still in pursuit of the same goal they started the season with - getting to Nationals, she said.

In addition, the Wolverines would like to compete at Nationals as a team, not just as individual boats.

04-09-98