The Minnesota womenâÄôs rowing team won seven of its eight races against Kansas on Saturday in the teamâÄôs final preparation before next weekendâÄôs Big Ten championships. In their only home meet of the spring season and just the fourth overall race of the year for the varsity, the Gophers posted wins with each of the six boats that theyâÄôll take to Columbus, Ohio next Saturday and finished just over a second behind the Jayhawks in the only race Minnesota did not win. âÄú[Saturday] was a really nice tune-up before we head off to the Big Ten championships,âÄù Gophers coach Wendy Davis said. âÄúWeâÄôve had so little water time this year, itâÄôs ridiculous. WeâÄôve finally had two weeks where weâÄôve been able to get on the water almost every single day.âÄù The Gophers opened the day with a second-place finish in the Fourth Varsity Four race, crossing the finish line just over a second after KansasâÄô winning time of 7:49.00. From there, it was all Minnesota. The Third Varsity Four boat finished four seconds ahead of Kansas with a time of 7:40.1. MinnesotaâÄôs âÄúAâÄù boat won the Second Novice Eight race with a time of 7:08.0 while the GophersâÄô âÄúBâÄù boat followed closely two seconds later. The First Novice Eight boat dominated its race with a time of 6:45.6 âÄì more than 30 seconds ahead of the Jayhawks. âÄúTheyâÄôre finding their speed,âÄù Davis said of her novice boats. The Gophers also posted a strong wins in the Second Varsity Four race, where Minnesota crossed the finish line nearly 20 seconds before Kansas âÄúAâÄù and âÄúBâÄù boats with a time of 7:18.8, and the First Varsity Four race, which the Gophers won with a 7:10.2 finish time. âÄúOur times have been pretty solid,âÄù junior Monica Folker, coxswain of MinnesotaâÄôs First Varsity Four boat, said. âÄúJust being out on the water helps so much.âÄù The final races of the day didnâÄôt bring an end to MinnesotaâÄôs dominance over Kansas as the Gophers took first in the Second Varsity Eight (6:40.8) and the First Varsity Eight race (6:20.2). MinnesotaâÄôs performance on Saturday wonâÄôt improve their stock much for the conference rankings, according to Davis. But senior Allison Fisher said the wins this weekend show that the Gophers are peaking at the right time with the postseason approaching. âÄúTwo weeks âĦ I would have said absolutely not. But we finally got on the water, everybody wants to be on the water,âÄù Fisher said. âÄúWeâÄôre just dying to row well.âÄù