Rowers win inaugural Big Ten Title

By Albert Kim

Daily Sports Writer

On the biggest night of Michigan crew to date, after history was made and the inaugural Big Ten Championship was in hand, second boat coxswain Helen Dalis was already sleeping.

And that, in essence, summed up the entire attitude of the women's crew team. There were no late night celebrations, just a quiet confidence among the rowers as they settled in their hotel in Madison. They went to sleep knowing that the bigger challenge of NCAA regionals were ahead.

"On Tuesday, when we get back, it's a whole new game, a whole new mentality," Junior Alison Hickey said.

The Wolverines didn't find many obstacleson their way to making history. The first and second varsity eight boats won their respective races comfortably, and the varsity four came in second.

The strategy going into the championship races was to go all out in the first 1000 meters and hold off any late charges. The coaches implemented the new plan of attack over a month ago, and it paid off Saturday.

The first and second varsity boats jumped out to early leads and never looked back. The Wolverines beat out Michigan State and Ohio State to secure their place in history.

As expected from a championship team, the Wolverines were the most represented team in the individual honors. Junior Kate Johnson, coxswain Belinda Koo and senior Jamie Stilson earned first team Big Ten honors while juniors Sophie Roberge and Laurel Donnell-Fink earned second team honors.

The underdog mentality of the team going into this weekend was a factor in their performance. The Wolverines were looking to avenge the loss to Michigan State a few weeks ago.

The revenge factor wasn't entirely due to just losing, it was also due to some trash talking. The Spartans posted some harsh comments on the internet calling the Wolverines "overrated" among other things, Hickey said.

The coaches made sure the women knew about this, as some of these messages were read during practice.

"We definitely had something to prove going in - we put Michigan State back in their place, their words were the fuel to our fire," said Kate Johnson.

With Kristie Johns sick in Ann Arbor, Senior co-captain Jen Kinon had to step up to the varsity boat and perform. Despite this change, the varsity boat was still victorious.

"The seniors definitely led the team this weekend, and we gave them the best graduation present of all, a Big Ten Championship," said Johnson.

The team's total effort Saturday will have to be duplicated in two weeks at the NCAA Central Regionals.

The Regionals on May 13 will be a good indicator of how tough the women are mentally.

With their season on the line, it will show whether this team has the ability to rise to the challenge as the favorites going in, something they haven't been able to do this year.

"On any given day, any crew can win, so we have to train really hard over the next two weeks, to be the ones to win again," Hickey said.

And with that ahead of them, the Wolverines went to sleep, content in knowing that they had just made history.