Gophers finish 5th at Big Ten meet

The Minnesota rowing team advanced to one Grand Final and came in fifth place Saturday at the Big Ten championship in Laingsburg, Mich.
Wisconsin won the title with 148 points, compared to the Gophers’ 66. Host Michigan State was second (132), Michigan came in third with 111 points and Ohio State came in fourth after a 105-point finish.
Minnesota head coach Wendy Davis said she was proud of how the team performed, especially the No. 1-ranked Second Varsity Four.
“It’s nearly impossible to make it into the Grand Finals,” she said. “[It was the] best we could’ve possibly done. I’m satisfied.”
Minnesota’s best came in the Second Varsity Four, where the women earned 14 points. The boat won the heat (7:28.50) and the Grand Final after finishing the course in 7:25.65.
The Gophers’ First Varsity Four won the Petite Final — every team competes in the Petite Final if they don’t advance to the Grand Final — with a time of 7:26.47, which gave them nine more points.
The Gophers had a pair of third-place finishes with their First Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight boats in their Saturday morning heats, landing both in the Petite Finals.
The First Varsity Eight, led by junior coxswain Linnea Trandem, took second place with a time of 6:31.14 behind Iowa’s 6:29.22. The Second Varsity Eight won its Petite Final with a time of 6:42.09 — adding on 18 more points — ahead of Iowa’s 6:44.71.
The Gophers claimed second in the First Novice Eight Petite Finals behind Ohio State with a time of 7:07.14 after a third-place time of 7:35.0 in the morning heat.
Minnesota won the Second Novice Eight Petite Final ahead of Indiana with a time of 7:21.06.
Senior Lucy Mulvey, a member of Minnesota’s First Varsity Eight, earned first-team All-Big Ten honors. Mulvey said the team had to overcome some wind issues before taking third.
“There were definitely weather issues,” Mulvey said. “It was very windy, [but] we worked hard on following each other and not letting it get to us.”
Sophomore Cassie Drozynski, also on the First Varsity Eight, was named to the second team All-Big Ten.
Davis said Wisconsin and some of the other teams had a better “racing savvy and a better sense in how to race” than the fifth-place Gophers.
Mulvey said she had been having trouble figuring out how to be relaxed with her rowing, but she felt she did a better job of dealing with anxiety at the Big Tens.
“I guess I was really monstering my stroke,” she said. “I’ve been struggling to relax and row well, and I really did that today.”
Minnesota’s next race will be the South/Central Regional Sprints starting May 15 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.