Although the spring rowing season is starting to heat up, the Wisconsin men’s crew team is still waiting for Lake Mendota to awake from winter. While other teams across the country prepare for another season, the UW crew team is stuck indoors.
The overextended stay of winter could not have come at a worse time for the Badgers. Since their last competition Nov. 14 at the American Heritage Regatta, the team has mostly remained indoors. The weather has certainly put Wisconsin at a disadvantage. Some of the teams that the Badgers will be facing in the spring season have had the opportunity to practice on the water all winter.
“In three weeks we will visit California to race Cal-Berkeley and Stanford, two of the top teams in the country, who have both been on the water all winter and had plenty of time to select lineups and gel together as a boat,” UW senior Derek Rasmussen said. “It is very possible that the ice will not break for two more weeks, leaving us a mere week to prepare for these races.”
After a layoff of more than four months, the team is desperate for some on-water practice.
“There’s no question the strokes — you can use that for any sport like golf, swinging a bat — you need those real strokes against pitching or out on the course,” head coach Chris Clark said. “The sooner we get them, the better.”
For the meantime, however, the Badgers are just left wondering when their opportunity to row will come.
Training is especially important for the team at this time of year, when Big Ten competition is scheduled to start up on Saturday against Michigan. Currently, the Wolverines are ranked eighth in the country in the coaches’ poll. However, the way that the weather has been this spring, it appears that the race against Michigan may not even happen.
“I’m disinclined to think it’s gonna happen,” Clark said. “It’s not gonna happen on Mendota.”
Fortunately for the Badgers, their upcoming competition has had to face their share of cold weather as well. In addition to the Wolverines, the team will also face Minnesota in the upcoming weeks. The Golden Gophers, who are ranked only three spots behind Michigan in the coaches’ poll, will also be a formidable opponent. Although the race against Minnesota is over a week away, it is unsure if that race will happen either.
To prepare for the tough competition, the Badgers have been anything but idle during winter. Over the winter and spring, the team has been working on the ergometer, an indoor rowing machine. The coaches are able to use the ergometer to indicate how the team will perform on the lake. In addition, the team went to Texas for two weeks over winter break.
“This is a big part of our winter training, as it gives us valuable rowing time on the water,” junior Ross James said.
Even though school is back in session, the team is still finding ways to get back in the water. When the team is not working on the ergometer, it spends time rowing at the Rock River near Edgerton.
Despite the limitations due to weather, the Badgers remain optimistic about the spring season.
“I don’t think the team is rusty at all,” James said. “We have had enough chances to row down at the Rock River to get a feel of being back in the boats and on the water. The winter is no break from hard work, so we hope to be ready when we can finally get back on the water.”
In fact, the harsh conditions may actually benefit the Badgers in the long run.
“This is the unique challenge that we face as Wisconsin rowers, and although we certainly don’t appreciate it now, when we finally do get on the water our wintry months of frustration will allow us to approach each workout with added focus and intensity,” Rasmussen said.
