No. 10 Notre Dame heads to Bloomington, Ind., this weekend for the Dale England Cup, hosted at Lake Lemon by No. 13 Indiana.
The Irish look to bounce back from their performance last weekend against No. 7 Michigan and No. 3 Ohio State at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Notre Dame failed to win any of the regatta’s races, though it finished within 10 seconds of the winning boat six times and got as close as a mere two seconds back in it second varsity eight race against the Wolverines.
Improvement will be a central focus for the Irish this weekend, freshman Hilary Shinnick said.
“We have been close on a lot of races,” Shinnick said. “So, it’s important just to keep concentrating on the little things we can control. We have to keep trusting each other and finish races as strong as we can.”
The Dale England Cup will take place over two days and will feature a total of 32 events raced by boats from Notre Dame, Indiana, Alabama and Rhode Island. The Irish will have entries in 19 of the events, as they will enter three varsity four squads and two varsity eight squads throughout the course of the competition.
Four coxswains ¾ senior Christina Dines, junior Mikaela Prego and sophomores Alex Techar and Jill Ryan ¾ lead the top four entries for Notre Dame. Dines’s varsity eight will aim to improve on its most recent time of 6:32.25, while the varsity four, which Prego leads, will try to better its last time of 7:39.83.
As for the Cup’s hosts, the Hoosiers come in after earning three wins at last weekend’s Clemson Invitational. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide are coming off a free week after they secured two top-10 finishes in races at the Knecht Cup Regatta in West Windsor Township, N.J., on April 13. In Rhode Island’s last outing, the Rams took three of four races from Rutgers on April 12.
Shinnick said the Irish are confident they can earn victories this weekend.
“We have faced top teams from all over the country,” Shinnick said. “This weekend will be tough, but we are ready to perform our best and rely on the experiences we’ve had and the work we’ve put in. We are getting better as a team and need to just keep building. This is a key point in our season, and we need to make sure all the work pays off.”
The Dale England Cup marks Notre Dame’s last competition prior to the ACC championship May 16 and 17. The Irish begin racing Friday at 4:30 p.m., and the competition is scheduled to conclude early Saturday afternoon.
