The No. 5 men’s rowing team launched its spring season Saturday morning with a decisive victory over No. 13 Michigan on the calm waters of Lake Mendota. Wisconsin claimed seven of the eight races, highlighted by a comfortable win in the crucial varsity eights race.

The Badger and Wolverine boats remained fairly even for the first 300 meters before Wisconsin began to steadily push ahead. The critical point in the race occurred when the Michigan coxswain steered his boat slightly off course. The boat struck a buoy at the 500-meter point, costing the Wolverines several meters of open water.

Wisconsin capitalized by expanding and holding the lead for the remainder of the race, winning by 9.1 seconds.

The second varsity boat also scored a victory for Wisconsin, clocking a time of 6:12.0 over Michigan’s 6:16.5. The Wisconsin rowers seemed sluggish at the opening and allowed Michigan to stay close until the final 500 meters. Regardless, the Badgers widened the gap toward the final stretch, securing the 4.5-second victory.

Junior coxswain Mike Lucey and senior standout rower Micah Boyd led the main boat, which features six new oarsmen up from lower boats in 2003. By virtue of this win, the crew expects to hold its place in the national rankings.

“Everything for the most part worked out as I expected,” men’s crew head coach Chris Clarke said. “Had we won by more, I would have been surprised. Sometimes, though, the unexpected can be a coach’s worst nightmare.”

Many of the seats in the first boat still remain in question. Boyd, who begins his third year in the main boat, is one of the few locks for a starting spot. Considered far and away the finest rower at Wisconsin, Boyd broke out during the spring season with a virtually flawless performance. He currently stands as the anchor of the main boat and is among the only remnants of last year’s second-place IRA squad.

Races began at 9 a.m. with the second freshman eight, the Badgers’ sole defeat of the day, and continued until 11 a.m. with the freshman and varsity fours closing out the morning.

The event, originally scheduled to take place along the shoreline of campus, was relocated to Governor Nelson State Park after wind reports arrived. Temperatures hovered in the low 40s for most of the morning, with moderate cross-tail winds.

The last-minute venue change was attributed to the wind conditions.

“We row up and down that area all the time, but there’s a definite disadvantage to being the away crew,” Clarke said. “It’s not like playing in a stadium where you are offered some protection, so we try to make things as comfortable as possible. In the morning there were winds coming out of the north, and a cross-tail wind is certainly preferable to a cross-head wind.”

With competition between the varsity boats fierce even after the start of the season, the lower oarsmen continually seek to prove themselves in early races and ultimately snag a spot in a higher boat. This pushes the incumbents to elevate their performance. Seat races allow the coaches to switch up the boat lineups to see which individuals deliver in what, by nature, is not a sport of individual accomplishment.

“Once you get a taste of being a starter, you don’t want to give that up,” Clarke said. “After a race we actually get a chance to reflect and maybe work a little harder. [Tuesday] we did seat racing and the first boat had to fight, which is always good to see. Rowing looks very finesse-oriented, and it is, but it can be very aggressive also.”

Young rowers Andrew Kaufman, Max Vice-Reshel and Ben Szymanski powered the first freshman boat to a win of 6:12.1 over 6:16.3. Kaufman further distinguished himself among the incoming class with a strong performance from the sixth seat.

The titanic Vice-Reshel, despite adding a great deal of weight to the boat, also contributed a great deal of power. Szymanski completes the trio, racing fourth seat. Clarke’s hopes to get more sophomores in the boat next year rest primarily on these three rowers.

“I’ll be very disappointed if they don’t move into the first boat right away next year,” Clarke said. “Those three are our prospects and most likely to receive that invitation. Actually, when it comes it will be more like a command.”

Every year the Badgers receive an invitation to compete in the W Cup against Washington. Next week, the crew travels to the Evergreen State to face the No. 2 Huskies. The Badgers look to defend the title captured in 2003. Clarke expects to start the same boat that bested the Wolverines Saturday.