The UW men’s rowing team begins its 2003 spring campaign this Saturday and Sunday at the Windermere Collegiate Crew Classic in Redwood Shores, Calif. The teams the Badgers are scheduled to face include Stanford, California, Princeton and Sacramento State.

In total, more than 50 individual races will take place between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Saturday and from 9:00 a.m. to noon Sunday.

Wisconsin’s already-strong rowing tradition was bolstered in 1996 with the hiring of Chris Clark as head coach of the men’s rowing program.

Wisconsin recaptured the Intercollegiate Rowing Championship’s Ten Eyck Trophy in 1997 after a nine-year absence. The Badgers retained the trophy, which annually recognizes the school that scores the most total points in the IRA national competition, in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, indicating Wisconsin’s dominance on the national scene. During that stretch, four UW boats won national titles in 1999 and 2000; three boats won grand finals in 1998, two in 2001 and one in 2002.

At the Eastern Sprints, Wisconsin crews have won seven golds in the past three years, including the varsity eight title in 2002. The 2002 varsity eight title was the school’s first since 1946. From 1946 through 1999, the Badgers won two Eastern Sprints titles.

Prior to his appointment as head coach, Clark served as UW’s assistant men’s rowing coach from 1994?96. Clark came to Wisconsin from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he served as freshman assistant for his first year before becoming the assistant varsity coach and interim freshman coach during his second and final year.

Fall Review: The Wisconsin men raced in three fall regattas, the Head of the Charles in Boston, Head of the Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa and American Heritage River Fall Classic in Detroit.

In the Head of the Charles Championship Eight, the Badgers finished second to the U.S. National Team. The Badgers were the top collegiate finisher. The UW championship four finished 22nd.

The Badgers dominated the Head of the Iowa, taking the top four places in the eight and winning six of seven races, overall.

Consisting of a mostly novice rowing team, the Wisconsin men swept the top positions in each event entered and won the all-points trophy at the first annual American Heritage River Fall Classic on the Detroit River.

Varsity Eight: The Wisconsin men’s varsity eight lineup used at last fall’s Head of the Charles included coxswain Mike Lucey, Beau Hoopman, Paul Daniels, Dan Mueller, Micah Boyd, Peter Giese, Mike Niemczyk, Alex Cockerill and Peter Nagle.

-compiled from staff reports