The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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The Wolverine rowers notched the best team finish of U-M's 27 varsity sports, the program's first Big Ten title since 2004 and its fifth overall, and an individual boat national championship (second varsity eight). PHOTO COURTESY U-M MEDIA RELATIONS tures the best team finish of U-M's 27 varsity programs, its first Big Ten title since 2004 and its fifth over- all, and an individual boat national championship (second varsity eight), Michigan's women's rowing has been named The Wolverine's 2011-12 Team of the Year, besting the efforts of football, men's basketball, men's swimming and diving, women's ten- nis and softball. "That's awesome," said Mueller, Until now. With a résumé this year that fea- who was also named the Female Ath- lete of the Year by Michigan. "You don't row for the recognition, but it's nice to be recognized because I don't know if people understand how ath- letically demanding of a sport row- ing is. "You use every muscle in your the Maize and Blue to their first Big Ten title in 2000 (and their second, third and fourth), and top-five na- tional finishes in six of their first eight seasons. However, in 2005, Michigan placed fourth at its con- ference meet — a program worst — and took eighth at the NCAA Championships. Over the next two springs, U-M didn't even qualify for the national championships, and even after re- turning to the event the Wolverines fizzled to 11th- and 13th-place fin- ishes in 2010 and 2011. On the plane ride back from Sacra- mento last year, Rothstein pulled out a notebook and began jotting down ideas, reworking his entire approach to the team. "I said to myself, 'Let's look at ev- body when you row. You sprint as hard as you can for as long as you can [for around six minutes] and it's both aerobic and anaerobic at the same time because it requires power and coordination and speed. "At the end of a race, your body is taxed and you're completely ex- hausted and in pain." "What I love about rowing is it's grown accustomed to the spotlight void even though their team occupies more scholarships (20) than any other Division I sport but football (85). "We're not a revenue sport, and Such is life for the rowers, who have we're not a big spectator sport, and we're not on campus, so I under- stand the lack of attention," said se- nior Emily Eiffert, a member of the first varsity eight boat. "We take a bus to a lake in the woods to practice or compete. "That's just the nature of the sport — unseen and unheard — so it doesn't bother me that we don't get talked about very often." the epitome of a team sport," said se- nior April Newberry, a rower on the second varsity eight. "There are nine of you in a boat, or five in the varsity four, and you can't accomplish any- thing on your own. You win or lose as a team." This season, head coach Mark Rothstein and assistants Brett Sickler and Annie Knill, and grad assistant Nellie Ruedig, put together the right formula, the athletes bought in and held each other accountable, and the winning momentum built upon itself until it reached a crescendo at the NCAA Championships. There were bumps along the way, highs and lows, but the Wol- verines persevered, their talent ris- ing to the top thanks to selfless attitudes, in providing the year's best performance. Rothstein has been with the pro- gram since its birth in 1997, guiding DRAWING BOARD BACK TO THE erything' so by the time we arrived in Detroit, I had 35 pages of notes," he said. "It was clear we weren't getting the results we wanted. "We had a lot of success from 2000-04, but what worked then wasn't working anymore, and every- one — coaches and athletes — was tired of being a second-tier program." Rothstein adopted a two-pronged attack — he wanted to alter the way the Maize and Blue trained, and he wanted to introduce a mission state- ment: a set of slogans the team would live by. In an extended team meeting in September, the Wolverines adopted 10 core values, ranging from the de- sire to "do something significant ev- ery day," "back up our words with our actions," and "we are 24-hour Michigan student-athletes" to "no whining." The goal was to make ev- ery rower accountable and to provide them daily inspiration and motiva- tion all year long. "We've always been a team that talked a lot, but our seniors and our leaders in the past didn't always fol- low through with what we said we were going to be about," said senior Ariel Piotter, from the second var- sity eight boat. "We failed to put our words into actions, and so when the coaches brought up this idea of put- ting our core values down on paper, I think everyone bought in quickly." "As coaches, we've always had AUGUST 2012 THE WOLVERINE 31