IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Drake rowing team wrapped up a successful day of races at the 2012 Head of the Iowa Regatta in Iowa City.

Larger scholarship programs, smaller non-scholarship programs and club programs all competed against the Bulldogs today. This marked the 17^th time the Drake rowing team has competed in the Head of the Iowa Regatta. The University of Wisconsin, a regional powerhouse, won many of the days' races.

"I thought we did very well today with some good races in great weather," Drake head coach Charlie DiSilvestro said. "Competing against larger, scholarship schools is always tough, but we weren't intimidated and I'm proud of how we performed. We supported each other, the novice boats continue to improve and everyone represented Drake well today."

The novice four Drake crew, led by coxswain Alison Armstrong (New Berlin, Wis.) and rowers Leah Robison (St. Paul, Minn.), Stephanie Boylan (Greenleaf, Wis.), Bri Varela (Olathe, Kan.) and Shelby Hill-Killerlain (Madison, Wis.) recorded the highest placing of the day with a sixth place finish in a time of 18:45.734.

Drake will finish the fall season with its annual dual against Creighton on Saturday, Nov. 10. The action will begin at 9:30 a.m. and all races will be held on the Des Moines River, between the Des Moines Botanical Center and Birdland Marina.

"This will be the 20^th annual dual against Creighton," DiSilvestro said." We always end the fall season with this race and it is run in the NCAA format with head-to head races. Three races and each one will receive a certain amount of points and the team with the most points at the end wins the trophy. We won it last year and we hope to do it again this year and keep the trophy."