Michigan State University
Michigan
Rowing Finishes Strong in First Race of the Fall
9/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
Sept. 21, 2008
Belleville, Mich. - The Michigan State rowing program opened its fall schedule with a strong performance against Michigan Sunday morning on Belleville Lake in Belleville, Mich. No official results were kept, but the Spartans competed in five races against the Wolverines, earning a victory in all five.
Sunday's event served as a tune-up for both teams in hopes of developing their student-athletes in a real-race atmosphere. Each controlled race was restricted to a maximum of 26 strokes per minute, with each piece lasting under five minutes as the race length was trimmed from the customary 2,000-meter race to 1,200 meters.
"We used the race to basically see the progression of some of our athletes and see how they would respond in real-race situations," head coach Matt Weise said. "It was a really good start for us as I thought our athletes responded nicely to the boat in several scenarios. They were able to be very aggressive without being wild which is a good thing for us to see."
The rowing program will look to build on its strong performance in two weeks as the team will travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State in a series of controlled races on Oct. 4.
