I 'M' takes seventh at the Charles By Sara Livingston Daily Sports Writer History shows that the Michigan women's rowing team always places well at the Head of the Charles, the world's largest rowing competition. In 2001, the women's eight-person boat came in sixth place. In 2002, it finished eighth. This year was no exception. The 2004 women's eight boat swerved through a field of 42 teams, including the U.S. National Team and the ASR Nereus - the Dutch National Team - to finish in seventh place this Sunday. The Wolverines finished with a time of 12:25.313, just 18.65 seconds behind the first-place boat, the ASR Nereus. In the championship women's four- person race, the Michigan boat - led by coxswain Julia Dalzell - placed ninth in a race containing 20 boats, including one from the prestigious London Training Center. The LTC won the race with a time of 13:32.448, while the Wolverines came in at 14:21.183. Both boats came into the race expecting to place in the top 10, hoping to get off to a solid start for the upcom- ing spring season. "Our boat is mostly seniors and juniors and it's going to be a good indi- cation of how we are going to perform in the spring," senior rower Cristin McCarty said. The majority of the rowers on Mich- igan's 12-person squad are upperclass- men who saw this regatta as a great opportunity to further bond with their teammates. Michigan head coach Mark Roth- stein also views this regatta as a way to gauge the team's progress so far. "This gives us a great opportunity FILE PHOTO/Daily The Michigan rowing team finished in seventh place at the Head of the Charles. to see where we stack up against other college teams from around the coun- try," Rothstein said. "I wanted us to find ourselves in the top group, and I think we did an outstanding job based on how we per- formed." Senior coxswain Tara Medina - who led the women's eight boat - was ecstatic about the speed her boat had throughout the race. "During the race, Harvard was in front of us and we were never neck and neck," Medina said. "But I could see as the race pro- gressed that we were gaining ground on Harvard. That let us know that we were going faster than them, and it was awesome to see that we were getting faster throughout the race." The energy flowing along the river gave the athletes a mixture of emotions and energy during both practice runs and the regatta itself. "Yesterday, during a run, (the crowd) definitely had an impact on us," McCarty said. "People were playing loud music, yelling at us and calling our names and stuff, and that's not exactly the environment at the other regattas because we are never that close to the crowd." "A lot of people were nervous, and we realized that it was a factor that we were definitely going to have to deal with. We focused a lot on our own boats and just ignore everything else and it worked really well." Medina said: "The environment makes it difficult at times to focus. We enjoy the event, but at the same time, it's more challenging than other events because of everything that's going on." The Michigan rowing team travels to Elkhart, Ind. to row in the Head of the Elk. Bauer impresses, earns spot on team By H. Jose Bosch Daily Staff Writer On a nippy fall afternoon Friday, H Buhr Park played host to the EMU Classic, where the Michigan men's cross country team competed in its final meet - a nonscoring meet - before the Big Ten Championships. Only runners who did not already have a spot for Big Tens ran in this weekend's meet. "It was supposed to help me make a decision about who my ninth man would be for the Big Ten (Champi- onship)," Michigan coach Ron War- hurst said. "You never know how it's going to play out." After the first mile of the race, it appeared Warhurst would have a very tough decision. Four of the first five runners were wearing the "M," and the runners continued to stay together through the first 5,000 meters. But the field of unattached runners began to break through the pack, and soon just one man was left to pace the Wolverines - junior Andrew Bauer. Bauer ran the 8k course in a time of 25:25, good for second overall in the race and first among the Michi- gan runners. "It's a really tough course, and nobody likes it," Bauer said. "It's hilly, and the footing is bad. But I just focused on the race and focused on the guys in front of me." Not only did Bauer's performance earn him second place in the race, but he also earned the ninth spot on the Michigan team that will travel to Iowa City for the Big Ten Champion- ship next week. "It wasn't strictly who was first, second or third, but it was how the race was run," Warhurst said. "I'm pretty impressed with the way Bauer ran." The rest of the team also ran well, with three other Michigan runners finishing in the top-10. Senior Sean Moore came in fifth with a time of 25:53, followed by freshman Seth Thibodeau, who came in sixth with a time of 26:03. Sophomore Brain Les rounded out the top-10 finishers - coming in eighth overall with a time of 26:06. But the race belonged to Bauer, and his performance ended a week of anxiety. "It's a lot of weight off my shoul- ders." Bauer said. "I've been think- ing about it all week. "I was nervous last night, and I couldn't sleep that well. But it paid off." Bauer will be sleeping well with images of himself at the Big Ten Championships running through his head. ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily Junior Andrew Bauer earned the ninth spot on Michigan's team as it heads into the Big Ten Championship. - I THE TRUTH IS... DON'T CALL YOUR MOM EHOUGrn. 0U 1 tY . I WHILE You'E OFWITH YER OODf-TME FRIENDS, SHE'S >A.