Trip to Michigan offers Gophers relief from that ‘hamsters in a wheel’ feeling

The Gophers rowing team hasn’t competed in three weeks, but as the women look ahead to this weekend’s meet against Michigan and Michigan State, they’re excited just to practice.

Lakes in the area have yet to thaw, and this week Minnesota could use only a 300-meter section of the Mississippi River for training.

“Think hamsters in a wheel,” coach Wendy Davis said. “That’s us.”

The course the Gophers typically use for practice is five miles long, but the flooding on the Mississippi won’t allow them to stretch that far. The makeshift 300-meter distance takes only 30 seconds to row with the current and two and a half minutes against it. They will have a chance to practice in full on Friday in East Lansing, Mich., before competing against two conference foes on Saturday.

Missing out on practices is nothing new for the team, and the Gophers did fairly well against Tennessee on March 19, winning three of five boats after not practicing on open water for months.

“I wouldn’t put anything past these guys,” Davis said.

In addition to seeing the water, this weekend also gives the Gophers a chance to see top Big Ten opponents and where they stack up. Wisconsin will also compete, but the Gophers and Badgers will effectively be partners. Both will row against the Michigan schools.

“It’ll be good to see everyone and see how much we’ve progressed,” Davis said.

Looking forward, Davis’ projections don’t have area lakes thawing until around April 23. She also doesn’t know when the team will be able to fully utilize the Mississippi because of flooding.

Even once they start practicing on water regularly, Davis said it could take a couple weeks to actually see how fast the team is. In 2009 the team had to deal with intense flooding on the river, and one of the team’s boats improved by 18 seconds in a month without water time.

Davis hopes the strength training forced on the team can produce the same results this season.

“They’re really focused,” she said. “They’re doing everything they can to do as much as they’re capable of.”