Big Ten Rowing Championships

press release: May 19 marks an important day for the Badgers and Wisconsin as the 2019 Big Ten Rowing Championship will premiere at the largest, most visited and third oldest state park in Wisconsin, Devil's Lake, in Baraboo. 

Check out the 2019 Big Ten Rowing Central for more info this year's event, including spectator info, scoring, tentative schedule and much more. 

The No. 12 Wisconsin women's rowing team is gearing up towards one of the biggest rowing competitions in the nation, taking on eight top-ranked teams, at one of the greatest venues around. Six of the eight are currently ranked in the top 16 in the nation, while the final two are at No. 22 and 23 and in the others receiving votes in the latest CRCA/USRowing Coaches Poll.

"It is really exciting," head women's rowing coach  Bebe Bryans  said. "It is something we've been working on for years. We believe it is a beautiful, great venue. The most important thing is the water conditions and we believe it will supply that. 

"The park is fabulous. For rowing it is fabulous. It is just long enough and just wide enough to do everything we want. It is surrounded by bluffs, which not only make the water good, but make for incredible viewing. You can see this race course from any part you want to see it from. There is room for staging. It is a little bit out there for location, but we've got the Wisconsin Dells really close by. 

"I think it is a fabulous venue and I'm really excited to show it off."

The 2019 Big Ten Championships will mark the third time since the start of Big Ten rowing began in 2000 that the Wisconsin women's rowing program will serve as the host school for the Big Ten championships. The previous two championships, in 2000 and 2007, were held on Lake Wingra.

The 2019 championships will also mark the first time the Big Ten rowing championships will be held outside of Indianapolis since 2010, when the event was held in East Lansing, Michigan, by Michigan State. That year, Wisconsin captured its first and only Big Ten rowing team title to date.

The eight-team Big Ten championships will mark the fourth women's rowing event to take place at Devils Lake since 2015. The Badgers' first event took place on May 2, 2015, with Michigan State and Minnesota competing. UW also raced there on Oct. 18, 2015, against Minnesota, and played host to the Big Ten/Big 12 Invite on April 23, 2016, with the Badgers, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa taking part. The program has scrimmaged at the venue, as well. The Wisconsin men's team has also competed there several times since first racing there in 2012.

Fans have the ability to view racing from all angles from the start line to the finish line, up above from the bluffs or at water level. The course and venue is spectator friendly.

"We think it is the best body of water in the area," Bryans added. "We are working really hard to do everything possible to bring everything else up to at least as high, if not a higher standard than we've had the past few years. 

"It has been a buzz in the whole country for the last five or six years, but this will be the first time we've put on a big show, and Wisconsin doesn't do anything halfway. We are going to make sure it is the best."