University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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me women s rowing learn warms up before their. meet against Eastern Michigan. The meet took place Belleville, Michigan on November 11 2006. Photo courtesy Sports Information 130 rowing

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The team practices their strokes for their upcoming regatta. The Maize and Blue varsity eights finished second, third and sixth at the American Heritage River Classic Regatta on the Detroit River. Photo courtesy Sports Information Sophomore movement science major Annie Hildebrand and her teamates carry the boat out to the water. Home meets took place at Bellville Lake. Photo courtesy Sports Information ysic test. Eight women sat in a boat, synchronized their strokes, and rowed. There were no touchdowns, home runs, or goals no star- making opportunities. There was just a lot of hard, grueling work and team effort. Fall 2006 marked the women ' s rowing team ' s ninth season at the University. The team performed well in their season opener, rowing to win four of five races against Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University. Mark Rothstein, who had been the head coach since the team began competing in 1997, commended the team ' s first result in 2006. I was pleased with our rowing today. The team looked to be in a strong position from the outset; Rothstein said, It was really good to race against good competition early in the season. I think our crews responded well, said Rothstein. Although Big Ten Conference titles were not awarded in this relatively new sport until the 1999- 2000 season, by 2006, the team had captured three of them. Year after year, the team was consistently ranked among the top ten in the country. With the addition of three new assistant coaches in 2006, Veronika Platzer, Bernadette Marten Teeley, and Molly Gutilla, the team expected another successful year. They had finished fourth in the conference in their previous season, but Rothstein had done a great deal of recruiting in the off-season, so the team had a different look entering competition in 2006. Rothstein was optimistic. When seven high school-rowers signed letters of intent to attend the University as stud ent athletes, he commented, It ' s a great group. We really enjoyed recruiting these kids. I think they ' re all going to do well. Rothstein hoped his assistant coaches bychrisalbanese could guide the young talents. Referring to Gutilla, he said, Molly is a very bright young coach, and I have no question that she will do an outstanding job developing our novice team. sports 131