Rowing team battles wind, sweeps races in Georgia

Cruising to wins in all five races Saturday, the women's rowing team found the weather to be its greatest opponent at Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga.

Fighting 15-mph winds, Duke bested not only the choppy waters, but also hosts Louisville and Ithaca College.

The first varsity eight easily outstripped its competitors' boats with a time of 7:26.13. This was good enough for best on the day, but with the rough racing conditions, the Blue Devils failed to come within 30 seconds of their previous mark against Louisville, 6:49.8.

"We beat Louisville last spring as well," varsity-eight rower Abby Hawkins said.

"So we knew where they were at and that we were capable of beating them, she added. "We just wanted to race a good 2000-meter race to see where we were at for the spring."

Besides the weather, Duke faced another unknown in Division III school Ithaca. Although Ithaca made the trip to the NCAAs last season, they failed to threaten the Blue Devils by more than three seconds in any race.

"It was a good first 2,000-meter race for us," coach Robyn Horner said. "I think there are some areas in the race where we can execute better, but overall it was a very solid team performance."

Among Duke's four other victories were the second varsity eight (7:41.86), the first and second novice eights (7:33.91, 8:07.53) and the varsity fours, where both Duke squads finished ahead of Ithaca.