EDMONTON, Alberta - Thirty years after winning Wisconsin's first national championship in women's rowing, the 1975 Badger varsity eight repeated its glory by capturing the 2005 World Masters Games' 50-54 age-group title on Telford Lake last Friday.
Back in 1975, Wisconsin's boat took first at the 1975 National Collegiate Rowing Championship in Princeton, N.J. Racing on a 1,000-meter course, the Badger contingent won in 3:07.3 to capture the collegiate title in what was the first year of varsity women's rowing at Wisconsin.
Last week, rowing again over 1,000 meters, the boat finished second in its heat in 3:47.54, but then won the title with a 3:40.07 in the final.
Both boats included Carie Graves, Jackie Zoch, Peggy McCarthy, Sue Ela, Karen Ela, Mary Connell, Mary Grace Knight, Deb Oetzel and coxswain Beth Traut. Graves, Zoch and McCarthy went on to make a combined six U.S. Olympic teams, while Sue Ela became the long-time head coach of the Wisconsin women's rowing program.
"We were real pleased and had a great time," commented Sue Ela. "Now we are planning for the next one in Sydney, Australia in five years."