Senior Q&A: Kate Burns and Lauren Sickmiller
4/26/2022 9:00:00 AM | Rowing, Features
Following the Big Ten Invitational (April 15-16) and two weeks of final exams, the Wolverines are ready to end the Spring 2022 regular season with a Senior Day Regatta against Louisville on Sunday (May 1). The team will celebrate the Class of 2022 at Belleville Lake and will look to build on an excellent stretch of racing, pushing to reach peak form as the postseason looms. MGoBlue.com caught up with graduate student Kate Burns and senior Lauren Sickmiller to understand how the team feels about recent performances, the progression of the season and the opportunities ahead.
Q. Last weekend, the team raced at the Big Ten Invitational in Sarasota. What was that regatta like from a competition standpoint - with it being a bigger event, more teams involved and competing at the site of NCAA's this year?
Lauren Sickmiller: The Invitational was a really great opportunity to shed some light on what the Championship racing season is going to be like for us. I think there were 18 teams there and some of the top-ranked programs in the nation so it was really competitive and great to have the opportunity to go out and race fast crews and see how we shape up.Â
Kate Burns: Yeah, I think just Nathan Benderson Park in general is such a professional set-up and it makes you really realize like 'Oh, rowing is legit'. It's really good having that experience going into Big Ten's and NCAA's, especially for people who have never been in a setting like that because it's a lot more professional. I didn't realize earlier that we hadn't raced more than one other school, which is a whole other thing. Being able to stay internal and in your boat when there are multiple boats around you is good.Â
Q. Kate, what has the 1V8 learned the last two weekends competing in tight races with some of the top boats in the country like No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Stanford, and No. 6 Brown?
KB: I think we've learned a lot. I think we're beginning to learn our identity of the boat and how to be internal. When we first raced Texas (the No. 1 team in the nation), we knew that we want to win a National Championship so obviously we have to beat the number one team in the nation to accomplish that. Going into that race, we had a lot of emotion to beat them and I think it came out in a way where we didn't row sustainably.
We were just trying to win right off the bat and we couldn't sustain it. So, we're learning how to have that emotion and have that excitement for racing and excitement to win along with being composed. The (Big Ten) Invitational was a really good step in being composed against these great competitors and rowing our race and using the other boats to be fast, but not worrying about the other boats. We're trying to find the middle ground of the emotion and the composure and having those both at a really high level.
Kate Burns (L) and Lauren Sickmiller
Q. Lauren, have you seen the varsity four boats continue to find their rhythm and take steps forward in recent weeks? How satisfying and rewarding was it to compete and sweep in Florida?
LS: The fours group is really exciting this year. I think it really has been demonstrating the depth that our team has. On a lot of the weekends so far we've had great performances. Like at the Big Ten Invitational, the fours swept all of their races, which was really exciting. I think that the fours group just does a good job of being gritty but also trusting ourselves and our fitness. So, we've been working on finding a really sustainable base rhythm that's powerful and having the confidence that no matter where we're at off the start, that with our base we will be able to move through all the other crews by the end.
Q. Being seniors, you two know what kind of performances are needed to be successful at Big Ten's and NCAA's next month. What about this team's progression makes you feel that it's headed in the right direction?
LS: I think something that (Coach) Mark Rothstein has been talking about is that our team has shown little glimpses of special things and sometimes in the moment you don't realize that what you're doing is special. For example, we had a day in the erg room during one of our 2x6k pieces this winter where our energy was great and everyone was hitting PR's and cheering for each other. It showed that the team is special and that we have this bond and this drive to do what it takes to get to that next level. I think that that has shown through in some of our regattas, like last weekend.
It was really special that the fours were just doing their thing and winning all these races and staying so internal. Coach was also talking about the eights who had this special moment, where from Friday to Saturday I think that the 2V8 improved by nine seconds and a lot of that was them flipping a mental switch. The ability to do that is so unique to this program and we feel it's something that gives us the chance to make history.
KB: Another thing that is really great about this team is that everyone is very humble and very willing to change to be better for everyone else. I think that the coaches have been doing a really good job of helping us make changes and keeping us accountable and not being complacent. Every few weeks we are making a big shift into a different area where we can grow and I'm just really excited to keep growing the next couple weeks until the postseason.
Charlie Carino, Michigan Rowing Team Impact Signee
Q. What did it mean to have Charlie join your team through Team IMPACT?
LS: She is going to be a really big contributor to our team and she provides that change in perspective for us. She's been through so much even though she is so young and I think it's really cool to have a young girl be someone you can set an example for. Even as college students I think that we can learn a lot from her and I think that the relationship both ways can be really great. I think especially having her sign onto our team will be really exciting to see her relationship grow with girls on the team and coaches and just to have her out there with us.
KB:I think that it's an amazing thing because she has overcome so much adversity and that is so inspiring in itself. It is really easy to get caught up in rowing world and think that rowing is the biggest thing in the world but she can really bring us down to Earth and just think about normal life and how people are facing battles everywhere. I am looking forward to getting to know her more and seeing her around the team!
Players Mentioned
