Rowing

The Gophers women’s rowing team hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2007.

At the Gophers’ first fall season meet Sunday, nearly eight months before the tournament, head coach Wendy Davis set the bar high for her squad this year.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been to the NCAAs,” Davis said. “But I absolutely believe we’re a team that has the potential to belong this year.”

It’s been more than two years, but a rowing competition will finally return to the Twin Cities on Sunday at Lake Phalen in St. Paul.

Minnesota will host its first regatta since April 24, 2010 this weekend against rival Wisconsin.

While it’s technically a home meet, the Gophers lack one of the main advantages of competing at home — familiarity with the course.

The Gophers rowing team battled top-tier competition over the weekend at the Virginia Invitational and held its own throughout the first day of competition.

The second day was a different story.

Minnesota placed first in the second varsity eight, first varsity four and first novice eight races in the Saturday morning session and followed that up with two wins in the afternoon session.

This weekend at the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Va., the Gophers’ first varsity eight, like Tiger Woods, need to stop thinking so much.

Minnesota’s top boat raced at full strength for the first time all season last weekend, but head coach Wendy Davis said they still overthink while in the boat.  

Davis said she has seen an improvement this week in the first varsity eight as a whole, but they still have room to grow.

Minnesota opened its Big Ten rowing season with a double dual against Indiana and Ohio State over the weekend and now has a better idea of where it stands in the conference.

There was no middle ground for the Gophers at the regatta Saturday — it was all or nothing for the squad. The team beat Indiana but lost all but one race later in the day to Ohio State.

Minnesota shot out of the gate in the morning session with an impressive showing, in which the team swept Indiana in every race en route to a 46-23 victory.

Minnesota will open its Big Ten rowing season this weekend with a Double Dual in Bloomington, Ind.

The Gophers’ first scheduled conference regatta at Iowa was changed to a scrimmage at the last minute because Iowa could not get a permit to race on the water.

This time around, everything is ready to go for a weekend, head coach Wendy Davis said, will serve as a measuring stick for the crew.

In a weekend when only its novice crews competed, Minnesota left the San Diego Crew Classic this weekend with a somewhat disappointing fourth-place finish in the Grand Final on Sunday.

But it was a great step in the right direction for assistant coach Andy Foltz.

“Our number one goal coming into Saturday was to get to the Grand Final [on] Sunday,” Foltz said.

The Gophers did just that by winning their heat in the opening day of the two-day regatta in San Diego.