No. 2 Men's Rowers Take 17th Walsh Cup
May 30, 2008 | Men's Rowing
No. 2 Men's Rowers Rowers Defeat No. 10 Navy
GOLD RIVER, Calif. ' Second-ranked Wisconsin won its third consecutive Walsh Cup early Friday morning, defeating No. 10 Navy on the Severn River in Annapolis, Md.
Wisconsin won the varsity eight, second varsity eight, freshman eight, varsity four with coxswain, open four with coxswain and freshman four with coxswain. The varsity four without coxswain was the only UW boat to fall to the Midshipmen.
The unbeaten Wisconsin varsity eight stayed that way by knocked off Navy in a time of 5:45.56. Navy clocked a 5:47.96 over the 2000-meter course.
With the victory, the Badgers remain unbeated and now lead the Walsh Cup race history, 17-14.
Named after 1923 Naval Academy graduate, rower and head coach Commander Charles 'Buck' Walsh, the Walsh Cup is awarded to the varsity eight victor between Wisconsin and the U.S. Naval Academy. Wisconsin won the first race for the cup in 1967. The Badgers kept a hold on the trophy until 1970 when Navy won for the first time.
Fred Emerson, a 1932 Wisconsin graduate, donated the trophy.
Wisconsin's varsity eight included coxswain Adam Barhamand, Grant James, Ross James Derek Rasmussen, Zach Krupp, Ed Newman, Max Goff, George Walters and Joe McMullin.
'In pretty much all the races against Navy when we've won, we took the lead pretty easily by 500 meters and stayed that way all the way,' said head coach Chris Clark. 'It is really tough to come out to Navy and race at 5 a.m. CT. You don't feel great, but you are just trying to get the lead and finish it out and that is exactly what we did. Navy had a good result, especially timewise at Eastern Sprints, so there is no taking them lightly. This race is important for us to blast us out of our post-Sprints and Madison training dulldrums and you get back into the racing groove, but we've got a long way to go.'
The second varsity eight rowed to a 5:56.45, nearly 12 seconds faster than Navy 's 6:08.0. The UW freshman eight finished in 6:04.41 to defeat Navy's 6:10.66.
The UW second varsity eight, which like the varsity eight captured an Eastern Sprints title two weeks ago, included coxswain Dan Connolly, Pete Helfer, Anthony Hoell, Dan Stevens, Cody Carlin, Paul Williams, Ken Rueden, Nick Janous and Kenny McMahon.
The Badgers finish the season perfect in cup racing, winning the Cochrane, Jablonic and Walsh Cups over Dartmouth, Boston University and M.I.T., and Navy, respectively.
Up next for the Badgers are the 2008 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. They championships run June 5-7.
'A nice day here,' added Clark. 'There are a couple of gears at this point in training we don't really have, but they should be there for the IRAs. This is a tough race. Within minutes after this race, we asked what the guys they were thinking about and they said, 'the IRAs.' They immediately shifted to the new mode and we are right in the middle of preparing for that. That is what this race is. It was good to come out with a victory.'
