Iowa City, IA (U-WIRE) -- Anne Moorhead was just like any other freshman heading to Iowa for college - at least, she was until summer Orientation. That's when her eyes fixed on a flier advertising the Iowa rowing team.

Now Moorhead, along with 40 other novice rowers, is officially a member of the team after competing at the Head of the Rock regatta in Rockford, Ill., this past weekend.

The novice team performed admirably in its first meet of the season, having three boats finish in the top 20. The novice B boat produced the best time of 21:10, good enough for 10th-place.

"I think they did fairly well," novice coach Laura Macfarlane said. "They were very composed and handled what comes with the first meet well."

The novice rowing team is a group made up of mostly freshman rowers who had little or no experience before coming to Iowa. Instead, almost all of them were athletes in numerous sports in high-school.

Moorhead, a five-sport athlete in high-school, said she knew she wanted to join the team right away, because she was so used to being on a competitive team.

Because novice rowers have very little experience or background knowledge in rowing, the coaches look for a certain type of person who can succeed.

"We look for kids who are athletes, first and foremost," Macfarlane said. "Somebody who is competitive in what she did, whether it was sports, debate, or music. If she wanted to always be the best, great."

Athletes who are smart also have a better chance of excelling in rowing, because they are easily able to pick up some of the difficult concepts, Macfarlane said.

With this being the athletes' first experience in rowing, the coach sticks to the basics to help the beginners. She prefers to bring her rowers along slowly instead of pushing them to do everything right away.

"It takes some time, and the hard part is to know just how much to hold them back, because if we let them just do everything, they are going to learn a lot of bad habits," the fourth-year coach said. "I would rather have them learn things slower and maybe be a little behind right now - but have them doing things at a high quality."

An aspect of coaching novice rowers often overlooked is that most of them are on a college campus for the first time. To help them adjust to a new way of life, Macfarlane has to teach more than rowing.

"The thing she [Macfarlane] does is incorporate your whole life," head rowing coach Mandi Kowal said. "Not just talking about rowing and lifting weights but how to deal with roommates, friends, and maybe stuff that might happen on the weekends. She is not just teaching rowing; she is teaching life."

The transition to rowing can prove difficult for some. Moorhead had trouble just physically trying to remember all the minute details, like how to sit and how to train her body to do something a certain way. Freshman Anne Price realized just how flawless each stroke has to be.

"You have to have your arms perfect, and everything has to be in a certain way, in a certain order," Price said.

With the first meet under their belts, the novice rowers will next compete in the Hawks' only home meet of the year, the Head of the Iowa, on Oct. 30. Macfarlane and the Hawks are excited about the challenge.

"Now they're ready to come back and make the changes we need to make," she said.

"We have three weeks to get ready, and all of our biggest competitors will be there. It is a great chance for them to race, and they know they have to be a lot more ready at the Head at the Iowa."

(C) 2004 The Daily Iowan via U-WIRE