Weekly Release #5

Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, April 12 -- at ACC/Big Ten Double Dual (Columbus, Ohio)
Sunday, April 19 -- vs. Indiana, vs. Ohio State (East Lansing, Mich.)

Michigan This Week
The No. 5-ranked University of Michigan rowing team will be traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for the sixth annual ACC/Big Ten Double Dual on Saturday (April 12). The Wolverines will be competing separately against No. 11 Virginia and Duke on Griggs Reservoir on the Scioto River. Michigan will match up with Virginia beginning at 9 a.m. and will start its afternoon races against Duke at 2 p.m. Meanwhile, Ohio State will row vs. Duke in the morning and Virginia in the afternoon. The races will give Michigan a chance to preview the venue for this year's Big Ten Championships on May 3.

Michigan vs. Virginia	first varsity four	10:00 a.m.
	second varsity eight	10:20 a.m.
	first varsity eight	10:40 a.m.
Michigan vs. Duke	first varsity four	2:00 p.m.
	second varsity eight	2:20 p.m.
	first varsity eight	2:40 p.m.

Scouting the Opponents
Virginia -- The No. 11-ranked Cavaliers most recently competed at the Windemere Collegiate Crew Classic (March 30-31) in Redwood Shores, Calif.. In separate races vs. No. 3 Stanford and No. 7 USC, UVA won both the second varsity eight and varsity four races but fell in the first varsity eight competitions. Virginia was then swept by No. 4 California. The Cavaliers finished in fourth place at the 2002 NCAA Championships, with the varsity four taking a team-high second place.

Duke -- The Blue Devils are barely unranked as they received a generous amount of votes in last week's US Rowing poll. The first varsity eight most recently finished in second place behind Tennessee in the petite final at the Jessop-Whittier Cup on April 6 in San Diego, Calif.

Forecast
The forecast in Columbus, Ohio, calls for a high of 58 degrees with winds from the northwest traveling 12 mph.

Big Ten Boat of the Week
Michigan's first varsity eight boat was awarded the Big Ten Conference Boat of the Week honor on April 7 for its efforts on April 6 against No. 9 Michigan State and Eastern Michigan. The crew crossed the finish line of the 1,950-meter course in 6:32.37 to defeat Michigan State by 3.8 seconds. The award is the first of the season for the Maize and Blue. Michigan last earned a Big Ten Boat of the Week laurel on April 16, 2002, when the varsity eight split the award with MSU. The boat was comprised of coxswain Tara Medina (Mill Bay, B.C.Brentwood SS), and rowers Erin Kopicki (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child HS), Crystal Culp (Fonthill, Ontario/E.L. Crossley SS), Stesha Carl (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson HS), Heather Mandoli (Kelowna, B.C./KLO SS), Leah Ketcheson (Belleville, Ontario/Bayside SS), Brett Sickler (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos HS), Kate Maxim (St. Helena, S.C./Langley HS) and Katie Reynolds (Saint John, N.B./Saint John SS).

Top Five
The first national rankings for the 2003 season were released by US Rowing (www.usrowing.org) on April 2 with the Wolverines varsity eight slotted fifth behind top-ranked Washington, No. 2 Princeton, No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 California. Typically, updated rankings are posted every Wednesday afternoon.

Last Weekend Against Michigan State and Eastern Michigan
Michigan earned its first wins of the year as the first varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four all swept No. 9 Michigan State and Eastern Michigan on Sunday (April 6) at Belleville Lake in Belleville, Mich. The first varsity eight race was tightly contested with the Wolverines pulling out a time of 6:32.37 as MSU finished in second at 6:36.17. The second varsity eight won yet another tight sprint, finishing in 6:40.00 while the Spartans crossed in 6:43.50. The varsity four completed the sweep with a 7:29.12 finish. MSU trailed behind with a time of 7:34.32. The races were not without problems as poor weather postponed the regatta from Saturday (April 5) to Sunday and forced the normal 2,000-meter course to be shortened to 1,950 meters.

Welcome to the Spring Season
In the fall, crews race in "head" races, a class of regattas generally three miles in length where the boats race against themselves and the clock. However, in the spring season, the teams compete in 2,000-meter "sprints." It takes an eight approximately six and one-half minutes to finish a race.

Head Coach Mark Rothstein
Mark Rothstein is in his seventh year as the head coach of the Michigan rowing team. Rothstein, the only head coach in the program's history, has led the program from its conservative beginning to a second-place finish at the 2001 NCAA Rowing Championships, including a national championship by the second varsity eight. He guided the team to consecutive Big Ten championships (2000, '01) and has been named the Big Ten and Midwest Region Coach of the Year. For his efforts in the 2001 season, he was selected as the National Coach of the Year.

Probable Lineups

First Varsity Eight coxswain: Helen Dalis 8-seat: Erin Kopicki 7-seat: Crystal Culp 6-seat: Stesha Carl 5-seat: Heather Mandoli 4-seat: Leah Ketcheson 3-seat: Brett Sickler 2-seat: Kate Maxim 1-seat: Katie Reynolds Second Varsity Eight coxswain: Tara Medina 8-seat: Sarah Trowbridge 7-seat: Emily Goodwin 6-seat: Elizabeth Godek 5-seat: Heather DeHainaut 4-seat: Amy Coughlin 3-seat: Janine Hanson 2-seat: Laura Drongowski 1-seat: Elizabeth Kreger Varsity Four coxswain: Louisa DiLeone 4-seat: Emke Bury 3-seat: Christina Ceo 2-seat: Christin Plunkett 1-seat: Stephanie Shapiro