By Chris Judd, News Correspondent
The west coast didn’t treat the women’s rowing team well, as the squad fell to 1-3 after the PAC-12 Challenge last weekend at Stanford University. The Huskies competed against Oregon State University and the University of California, in addition to Stanford.
The weekend’s races brought stiff competition – California is currently ranked second, while Stanford is currently ranked ninth in the country.
The NCAA changed the rowing selections to the NCAA Championship this year and now, teams that win their conference will automatically earn a bid, as well as 11 at large teams. The Huskies have won the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) for three of the last four years, so now is the perfect time to keep that record going with an NCAA bid on the line.
“Our goal is not to just qualify for the NCAA Championship, but to be competitive at that level,” coach Joe Wilhelm said. “Racing crews of that caliber now, [Cal and Stanford are both top 10 programs] gives us a better idea of the kind of speed we have to generate at the end of May.”
The Huskies finished up to 30 seconds behind California, around 10 seconds behind Oregon and around 20 seconds behind Stanford in all the events. They hovered around seven minutes for their varsity eight times while closer to eight minutes in the varsity four time with their competition finishing at around 6:30 p.m.
“I was expecting us to be more competitive with these crews this weekend,” Wilhelm said. “Having said that, I also expected to be rowing on the water earlier in the season, and have had raced in the Beanpot Regatta last weekend. The time on the water, in addition to one other local race would have better prepared us for this past weekend. Nothing duplicates rowing on the water to prepare for racing. We are fit and strong, but just haven’t had the time on the water to be prepared to race crews who have been rowing all winter.”
The women’s Beanpot Regatta was postponed due to inclement weather before the California trip, leaving the Huskies inexperienced in competition this season. They’ll next compete this weekend in the Orange Cup Challenge in Philadelphia, Pa. against Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania where they will try to get back on track to an NCAA tournament appearance in May.
The men’s team was out of action this week after a sweep at the Pennsylvania Invitational in Camden, N.J. culminating on March 23, but the team returns to action April 13 against Boston University in the Arlett Cup on the Charles River.
