The Creighton Women’s Crew Team hosted the Upper Midwest Collegiate Sprints Sunday at Carter Lake. Men’s and women’s varsity and club teams from around the Midwest competed in the regatta, including intrastate rival Nebraska as well as its fellow Big Ten school Iowa and Big 12 competitors Kansas and Kansas State.
A strong crosswind throughout the competition made racing difficult for the rowers, to the point of some of the small boat races having to be cancelled. The wind caused the start line to be pushed up and become a floating start, instead of the conventional stationary start.
Creighton Crew head coach Dan Chipps said the straight crosswind is the most difficult wind to row in. Despite the difficult conditions, he was pleased with how Creighton competed throughout the day. Senior Anne-Marie Stonikas echoed Chipps’ sentiment that the wind made competing more problematic.
“The wind made it a little more difficult, but it’s been worse,” Stonikas said. At SMU [Creighton’s first race of the year] it was really bad and there were whitecaps.”
In the 15-race event, Creighton took home top honors in six of the races: the Women’s Novice 8, Varsity 4 + A, Varsity 4 + B, Novice 4 + B, and the Lightweight 4 + A, and Varsity 8. The women swept the top three spots in the premier event of the day, the Varsity 8 race, which according to Chipps made a good day “awesome.”
The three Creighton boats entered in the race outdistanced all the other competitors by at least eight seconds, with the A boat winning in a time of 5:06.
The Crew team’s season is winding down after the Collegiate Sprints, competing at Drake on May 2 before heading to Sacramento for the West Coast Conference championships on May 16. Even with the strong showing Sunday, the team’s focus is on finishing the season successfully.
“Our goal is to beat Drake since they are the best local competition,” Stonikas said. “As a senior I also want a really strong finish at conference.”
Creighton pulls ahead in the Women’s Varsity 8 race.