The Minnesota men’s crew team rolled to a respectable day Sunday at the Head of the Iowa regatta in Iowa City.
Minnesota’s Men’s four-man lightweight team topped the results with a first-place finish, 27 seconds over second-place St. Thomas. The men’s novice eight followed that result with a second-place finish behind regional powerhouse Wisconsin. The Gophers were behind the Badgers again in the novice four, and left the competition envious of the two rivals.
But the most entertaining race might have been in the men’s pair race. While Minnesota didn’t finish in the medals, the manned pairs didn’t have coxswains, which made steering the boats along the curvy and narrow Iowa River treacherous. The crowd got a kick out of watching the crews attempt to avoid buoys, bridges, the shoreline and each other.
The team is gearing up for the Head of the Hooch regatta, the season finale in Atlanta on Saturday. Last year, Minnesota took home five gold medals in seven men’s events, as well as winning the overall points competition.
— From area press release