Openweights Finish Season At Eastern Sprints
May 18, 2003 | Women's Rowing
Wisconsin women's openweight rowing took two gold medals at the Eastern Sprints, Sunday on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. The sixth-place finish for the Willing Point Trophy given to the overall points champion completes Wisconsin's 2003 openweight rowing campaign.
The UW second novice eight and varsity four B boats took home the Badgers' gold medals on a day all but two Wisconsin crews made grand finals. The Big Ten Champion second novice eight captured the Eastern Sprints title with an over six-second victory. The Badgers stroked to 7:24.30, besting second-place Cornell, which finished the 2,000-meter course in 7:30.50. In the varsity four B race, the Badgers took the grand final in 8:02.10, over five seconds faster than second-place Boston University, which finished in 8:07.29.
'The second novice eight had a great day winning its heat and final,' said head coach Maren LaLiberty. 'They certainly showed great strength during that race. Our team showed good depth by winning the third varsity four B final.'
Also making grand finals were the second varsity eight and novice eight boats. The second varsity eight raced to sixth place in 7:19.70, with Brown winning in 6:58.50. The novice eight, the UW's other Big Ten Champion, paced to fourth place in 7:25.40. Brown won that event as well, finishing in 7:03.50.
LaLiberty added, 'Our second varsity eight was very excited to make it to the grand final. They finished sixth in the race and seven in the boat will be returning next year. We look forward to more grand finals from them. The novice eight also had a great day in their heats. They were a little disappointed that they didn 't medal in their final, but we are looking forward to seeing this crew on the varsity team next year.'
In the varsity eight, The Badgers finished 11th overall and fifth in the petite final. Seeded 14th heading into the event, the UW posted a time of 7:13.30 to beat its seed by three places. Cornell won the petite final in 7:00.10, while Radcliffe took the grand final in 6:43.80.
In the petite final of the varsity four A, Wisconsin finished second in 8:09.54 behind Cornell. Yale claimed the title in the event by winning the grand final in 7:50.80.
In the Willing Point Trophy standings, Wisconsin finished sixth out of 18 teams with 47 points. Radcliffe, with 61 points, edged out Brown, with 60 points, for the overall title. Princeton (56 points), Yale (54 points) and Cornell (50 points) round out the top five schools.
