By Bo Bradarich , Daily Sports Writer
Published April 7, 2013
After receiving Big Ten Boat of the Week honors last week, the first varsity eight (1V8) on the No. 8 Michigan rowing team was unable to pull away from the Fighting Irish in its half-second loss in the first flight. Though the Wolverines rebounded, beating Tennessee by a full 15 seconds in the second flight, coach Mark Rothstein was somewhat disgruntled by the 1V8 and 2V8’s loss to Notre Dame.
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As a team, Michigan has done phenomenal in its opening weeks of competition. The Wolverines swept Michigan State and Iowa on March 30, racking up 15 victories in one day and another 12 this weekend. In total, they have won 24 out of their first 27 races this season.
“We had a nice performance in the first four and the novice boats,” Rothstein said.
The Michigan first varsity four (1V4) and 2V4 easily defeated Notre Dame by 17 and 20 seconds, respectively, and handled Tennessee by 30 and 20 seconds, respectively. The first novice eight (1N8) beat Notre Dame by six seconds in the first flight and nine seconds in the second, while the 2N8 destroyed Notre Dame by 22 seconds in the first flight and 33 seconds in the second.
Though a tremendous amount of emphasis is placed on the performance of the top varsity boats in rowing — partly because of the significant amount of team points they score and partly for bragging rights — there are more important things the team can do as a whole.
Though the 1V8 and 2V8 losses against Notre Dame were marginal, Rothstein was insistent on saying, “we still have a lot of work to do,” and suggested that he might switch up the lineups a bit.
But this is the sort of inter-squad competition Michigan needs to continue driving its success.
All Rothstein had to say about Michigan’s upcoming agenda was more on-the-water training. Regardless of the early season success, Rothstein has his eyes on a Big Ten title and will not allow complacency to plague his team. With spring weather finally starting to roll into Ann Arbor, training won’t only become easier, but it will also be more enjoyable for the rowers as they’ll finally get a break from multiple weeks of chilly, outdoor practices.
