When the start signal sounds on tomorrow, the No. 8 Ohio State women’s rowing team will make every stroke count as it faces off against some of the toughest competition in the country.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Buckeyes are making an appearance at the NCAA Rowing Championships. They will need to push their boats faster than 11 other teams at the Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis if they plan to bring home the title.
“We want to have the best race we have had all year,” said coach Andy Teitelbaum. “If we row as fast as we can and have our best performance but there is someone who goes faster, there is nothing we can do. We can’t control how other teams perform; we can only control what we do and how we perform.”
For OSU, the best race would be one that equals or surpasses its performance at the South/Central Regional Championships May 17-18. At that regatta the Buckeyes beat out the rest of the competition, being named the overall regional champions for the first time in program history.
The top competition at the NCAA Championships will be No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Harvard. OSU defeated Stanford earlier this season in the second varsity 8 and first varsity 4 at the Stanford Invitational.
Also competing will be Washington, Princeton, Virginia, Brown, Washington State, California, Michigan, Yale and Michigan State.
Ohio State has seen No. 4 Virginia, No. 9 California, No. 10 Michigan and No. 16 Michigan State all on the water in various regattas this season. California was a competitor at the Stanford Invitational, beating all of OSU’s boats.
The Buckeyes compiled four undefeated dual races against Virginia at the ACC/Big Ten Double Duals and beat out Virginia, Michigan and Michigan State at the regional championships. They fell to Michigan and Michigan State at the Big Ten championships earlier this season after recording a winning record against both at the Big Ten Invitational.
“There are 12 of the best teams in the country that will be competing this weekend,” Teitelbaum said. “The competition is wide open this year. No team is undefeated, putting us in a position to finish anywhere between first and 12th.”
OSU had its best NCAA performance at the Championships in 2001, when it placed fourth overall. Last year, the Buckeyes placed fifth as No. 3 Washington walked away the NCAA First Varsity 8 Champion.
Leading the way for OSU will be senior Maxi Meissner and junior Karla Fiserova, who were both named to the 2003 First Team All-Central Region and awarded All-Big Ten honors. Joining them in the first varsity 8 boat will be sophomore Franziska Schubert, also a Central Region first-team member, and junior Natalie Legge, a second- team member.
Along with the rest of the team, the women have been using practice and experience to prepare themselves for the stiff competition.
“We have focused on continuing the rowing that enabled us to do our best at regionals,” Teitelbaum said. “We have rested up and worked hard to prepare ourselves.”
