Crew club takes two of three from Iowa

Chelsey Walden

The ISU Crew Club won two of its three races against Iowa on Saturday to win the CyHawk Regatta and keep the trophy oar in Ames for another year.

The regatta has been in existence since 2003, with the first race held on the Iowa River in Iowa City. The event was at Big Creek State Park last year, and will continue to alternate between the two locations. The home club has won the regatta each of the first two years.

Each year, the winner takes home an old wooden oar trophy that features each club’s oar design painted on either side.

“We felt confident going in,” said club president Matt Solnitzky. “We got a little scared after the first race since it was so close, but the second one was a blowout.”

The first race came down to a seven-tenths of a second differential. Matt Owens, a first year member of the club, said from the angle he was watching, he couldn’t tell who had won.

“Our coach even said he thought we were trying to give him a heart attack,” said Owens, junior in industrial engineering.

Since the event featured three races, each 2,000-meter sprints, the club knew it was over after a 30-second win in the second race.

“The second race was a blowout, and we knew we had already won after that,” Owens said.

Iowa won the last of the three races, but it was too late.

The weather was a little rough on both teams, with some gusting winds, but club member Jeff Kloster, senior in mechanical engineering, said it only affected them at the beginning of the race.

“It was relatively windy at the starting line, so sometimes it was difficult to get started,” he said. “Since it’s a sprint race, each boat gets into a lane at the starting line. You begin to lose your point if it’s windy, and the leading edge of the boat can pivot.”

The ISU Crew Club’s spring season started after winter break with 6 a.m. practices at the Lied Recreation Center three times a week, including calisthenics and a 20- to 30-minute run. After Spring Break, the club was finally able to get on the water at Big Creek State Park, where most members practice on the water five times a week. The club is also in the process of building a boat house on the Des Moines River.

“It will give us a permanent base of operations,” Kloster said. “The river obviously melts a lot sooner than the lake does, and the weather conditions on the river are more conducive to practicing.”

Next, the crew club is preparing to compete at the Midwest Rowing Championships in Madison, Wis., on April 23.

“Madison is one of the biggest races of the spring,” Kloster said. “Almost every major school in the Midwest will be there.”

Although it is a larger event, Kloster said he feels more comfortable going into the event after having more rowing time and close races under his belt. The confidence from the win over Iowa won’t necessarily carry over to the Midwest Rowing Championships, though, he said — the club tries to approach each race separately.

“We go into each race with confidence, but knowing that in order to win will take some work,” Solnitzky said. “This was another race and we’re happy with the outcome.”