This weekend the Wisconsin women’s crew team will face a tough challenge, as both the No. 14-ranked openweights and No. 3-ranked lightweights prepare to meet the top-ranked teams in their respective fields. It should prove to be a great measuring stick for both groups to assess how close they are to the best.
The lightweights come into this weekend’s Knecht Cup in New Jersey after winning the Coggeshall Cup in San Diego their last time out on the water. A second-straight event championship will be much harder to come by, as the Knecht Cup features the top two teams in the nation, Princeton and Radcliff. Wisconsin coach Mary Shofner also singled out Georgetown as a possible challenger in New Jersey.
“Pre-season rankings weren’t done with any results from the spring season,” Shofner said. “So it really is just the coaches’ best guess.”
Still Shofner confirmed that Princeton’s times in their first couple events were exceptionally fast, with Radcliff and Georgetown not too far behind. Wisconsin can hang its hat on a nearly 20-second advantage over No. 4-ranked Stanford in the finals in San Diego. With all four teams showing so much early, the Knecht Cup will be the first of three potential meetings for the schools, which will culminate in the IRA National Finals.
“We expect to be right there with [Princeton and Radcliff],” said rower Eva Payne. “We’ve put the work in to be there, so we should be there.”
For Wisconsin, this is their first look at the New Jersey course that they will be competing at three times this season. Following the Knecht Cup, the Badgers will also be in New Jersey for the Eastern Sprints and then for the IRA National Finals. Wisconsin is hoping that familiarity breeds success.
“Every time you are on a course, I think you get a little faster,” Payne said. “It’s little things, like knowing what you’re passing and how much you have left to go and how much you have left to give, I think that kind of helps.”
Back in the Midwest, the openweights will have a challenge, too, as they travel to Indiana for Big Ten matchups with Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and top-ranked Ohio State. With Minnesota and Iowa hovering around the top 20 as well, Wisconsin will face stiff competition in an event that will help determine the seeding of the upcoming Big Ten championships.
With their fifth-place finish in San Diego, the Badgers moved up seven spots to No. 14. Now Wisconsin will find out how close No. 14 is to No. 1, as Ohio State will prove a big challenge for the women rowers. Staying close to the Buckeyes will give the Badgers plenty of confidence for the rest of the season, but beating them could vault the team to new heights.
“If we can beat [Ohio State], that would be huge,” said crew-team member Chris Strasser. “If we can come close to them, that’s good as well, but obviously we want to beat them.”
Even if the Badgers cannot overcome the Buckeyes, there is reason for hope. Wisconsin’s late start to the season compared to some of the best teams in the country has put them a little behind their opposition. The team sees this as meaning more room to improve as the short spring season moves along. A strong showing against Ohio State this weekend may turn into a victory later in the year.
“We’re going to be gaining speed every week,” Strasser said. “So it’s hard to judge where we will be right now.”
Will Wisconsin have enough time to reach its peak, though? With a little more than a month before the NCAA championships, the Badgers will need to make significant gains against the likes of the Buckeyes if they want a realistic chance of being a player in the NCAAs in May.
Both squads hope to come out of this weekend with a little clearer picture of where they stand nationally. With the chance to take on the top competition available, the Badgers have put themselves in a position to show early on that they can compete at the highest level.
