The No. 14 Irish continued their spring-season success in their second regatta of the season, earning eight victories in a four-team competition against Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State on the Grand River in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday.
The Notre Dame first varsity eight, second varsity eight, first varsity four and novice eight all finished as double winners Saturday.
Freshman coxswain Alex Techar said the Irish were proud of the hard work team members put in to record a high finish at such an early point in the season.
"Overall, the team worked really hard," Techar said. "For some people, it was their first race of the season, and for some people, it was their first race ever."
The Irish opened the day with a victory from the novice eight launch. Techar headed the Irish 'A' crew as coxswain, and the boat finished with a time of 7:26.00 to beat Iowa by five seconds.
The varsity four team posted a time of 8:03.20 to finish 15.30 seconds ahead of Iowa for the win. The second varsity eight launch logged the third victory of the day with a winning time of 7:03.70, edging the Hawkeyes again.
The first varsity eight launch recorded the second-fastest time of the day for the Irish, posting a time of 6:55.10 to beat Iowa in a two-team race.
The Irish maintained their focus as they transitioned to the afternoon races. The first novice eight launch finished with a time of 7:44.90 to defeat Michigan State in the third race of the afternoon.
The freshmen on the first novice eight launch saw significant improvement throughout the day, Techar said.
"The freshmen improved from the morning race to the afternoon race," Techar said. "We took our mistakes and tried to learn from them."
The Irish varsity four launch earned its second victory of the day with a time of 8:14.80 in a two-boat race against Michigan State. The second varsity eight beat Michigan State with a time of 7:24.20, and the first varsity eight finished the day with a winning time of 7:03.10, defeating Michigan State by 19 seconds.
Notre Dame's successful performance at the regatta stemmed from the hard work the team has put into strength and technical improvements, Techar said.
"Since the last regatta, we've only been on the water a couple times," Techar said. "So, we have focused on power improvements on land and took the time on the water to work on technical stuff."
With another competition quickly approaching for the Irish, the team will look to improve its ability to compete, Techar said.
"The team has a lot of spirit and are willing to work hard and try and improve," Techar said.
The Irish return to the water to compete against Ohio State and Michigan on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
Contact Kit Loughran at kloughr1@nd.edu
