Two weeks after losing the Big Ten championship by 1 point to No. 3 Michigan State, the No. 4 Ohio State rowing team gets another shot at the Spartans and the rest of the conference Saturday and Sunday at the NCAA South/Central Regional Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The Buckeyes will try to win their third consecutive Central Region title and gain an automatic berth to the NCAA finals, to be held May 27-29 in Sacramento, Calif.

“We are confident,” said senior captain Diana Albrecht. “We had a pretty good week after Big Tens. I think everybody was changing the disappointment (of not winning the Big Ten) into frustration and that makes you very aggressive during practice.”

Having won the regional tournament for the past two years, the Buckeyes will have to avoid any feelings of overconfidence.

“You don’t get any points for having won it last year,” coach Andy Teitelbaum said. “That’s way in the past. The fact that we’ve won it before, they’re not going to start us any further ahead than anyone else. It’s not something we’re talking about.”

All seven Big Ten schools will be among the 29 schools at the tournament. The Buckeyes are seeded second in the first varsity eight, second varsity eight and first novice eight boats.

OSU is seeded seventh in the first varsity four race. That boat missed the grand final in the Big Ten tournament, costing OSU pivotal points.

“We’ve made some switches there, and we’re hoping that they’re moving better,” Teitelbaum said. “You never know until race day.”

The Buckeyes know they will need to perform well, with only the top two crews assured of making it to the NCAA Championships.

“A big motivation this weekend is to get to nationals,” senior co-captain Maggie Kathman said. “We have to be performing well this weekend, we have to show up, we have to bring everything we have. If we don’t, we could miss out on nationals.”

One boat that has been performing well is the second varsity eight boat, stroked by Kathman. That boat defeated Michigan State by less than a second at the Big Ten Championships.

“We beat them in the very last minute of the race so we know that they are angry,” Kathman said. “We don’t want them to think they have anything on us, so that’s what we’re going into this weekend to prove – that it wasn’t a fluke.”

The Buckeyes said that while the Big Ten Championships are races of emotion, the loss two weeks ago will provide plenty of fuel for this weekend.

“It’s definitely as much emotion (as the Big Ten championships) because you want to retaliate now,” Albrecht said. “You want to show Michigan State that this was a one-time occasion and not something they can repeat.”

However, winning the Central Region for the third year in a row will not replace falling in the Big Ten finals.

“That’s the sad thing about losing Big Ten Championships but then winning Central Regionals,” Albrecht said. “You basically beat all the Big Ten schools but you don’t get the shirt and the trophy like you do at the Big Ten Championships.”

The Buckeyes hope that as the season winds down, all their hard work will pay off.

“One of our main goals is to peak at the right time,” Kathman said. “It might seem like we’ve peaked at Regionals in years past, so we’re just hoping this year that we’re doing it right.”