Badgers Finish Fourth at NCAA Regional
May 13, 2007 | Women's Rowing
The University of Wisconsin women's openweight rowing team finished fourth at the 2007 NCAA Aramark Central/South Regional in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Wisconsin finished with 346 points, as Virginia took the team title with 440 points. Ohio State (366) and host Tennessee (352) rounded out the top three.
'We just had a stellar day,' said head coach Bebe Bryans. 'It was a great day. Everybody in every single boat rose to really great heights and we raced fabulously across the board from the first day in the open fours to the last race of the day in the varsity eights.'
The varsity four had the day's best finish as they took second with a time of 7:33.81. Coxed by Rachael Schupp-Star and rowed by Kylah Barbola, Katie Helmrick, Emily Sitek and Annie Walsworth, the varsity four boat tied their best finish at the regional regatta. The boat took second in 2004 and 2005.
Wisconsin's open four and second varsity eight both finished third with times of 7:43.70 and 6:44.07 respectively. The novice eight placed fourth in a time of 7:05.09, while the varsity eight took third in their petite final with a 6:40.76 final time.
The fourth-place finish matched UW's 2005 result, the first year of current head coach Bebe Bryans. Wisconsin has now finished fourth or better in each of its four year's at the NCAA Central/South Regional.
'Everybody raced their hearts out," Bryans said. "We improved every time we went out on the race course which is still what we are looking for.'
Wisconsin will now await the NCAA's selection for the 2007 NCAA Championships. The teams making the championship will be announced on Tuesday, May 15 at 2 p.m. CT and will be announced on ncaasports.com. Twelve schools will be selected to send a varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four, while four additional schools will be chosen to send just their varsity eights.
'We did our best and left it all out on the race course and we hope to get the opportunity to race again in two weeks," concluded Bryans. "Either way, it is a great day to be a Badger and our future looks very bright.'
