Badgers advance all three boats to NCAA semifinals
May 28, 2010 | Women's Rowing
May 28, 2010
GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The first day of the 2010 NCAA Rowing Championships are complete and for the first time in school history, all three boats for the No. 8 Wisconsin women’s rowing team are headed to Saturday’s semifinals.
After the morning session, the possibility of all three boats advancing to Saturday racing was up in the air. The second varsity eight did its job by advancing, as did the varsity four, which won its heat, but the varsity eight placed outside the top three in its morning heat and so headed to the afternoon repechage. The boat recovered in the afternoon and came through to grab the last spot in the semifinals.
The varsity eight, which was seeded 14th entering the weekend, finished fifth out of five boats in heat two and was forced to race a second time on Friday in the afternoon repechage. Stanford (6:16.81), Yale (6:17.22) and Brown (6:26.61) grabbed the three semifinal spots from the heat, while Michigan (6:27.82) and Wisconsin (6:29.82) placed fourth and fifth. Despite UW’s last-place finish in the heat, its time was better than four other varsity eights and within a half second of another, so hope was alive the Badgers could reach their first varsity eight NCAA semifinal.
“You wake up with a lot of nerves knowing this is the day,” said senior two-seat Anna Schettle. “This is what the whole season has led up to. It hits you when you get on the line. The first race wasn’t everything we wanted it to be. We understood what we had to do this afternoon and I think the second race today it came together.”
Like it did at Big Tens, UW’s varsity eight stepped up and did what it had to do to help the team. After taking second at the Big Ten championships to clinch UW’s first conference title, the boat made a strong move before the 1000-meter mark to grab the lead, then held on the rest of the way to one of the advancing spots with its third-place finish.
Michigan took the repechage in 6:35.24, nosing out Washington’s time of 6:35.84. The Badgers, right on their heels, clocked a 6:36.75 over the 2000 meters. As it turned out, Wisconsin comfortably qualified for the semifinals, with fourth-place Washington State crossing the line in 6:40.08. Clemson, Ohio State and Tennessee rounded out the finishers.
“The varsity’s back was against the wall and they raced the way they can,” said Head Coach Bebe Bryans. “That was a good time to do it. It is a little bit nerve-wracking, but they are still learning. It is a learning process and I think today was a big step because the alternative was what the alternative has always been for us, which is the third-level final. They could have done what has been done and they really chose to go for it with no regrets. If they didn’t make it, it wouldn’t have been because they didn’t go for it and they prevailed, so I was really proud of them.
“It is a step. We’ve shown in the past few years that our depth is good, but our top-level speed just hasn’t been what we needed to have to compete with the top crews. I think what they showed today was even though on paper we are not as fast as some of these other boats, when it comes to really racing and having what it takes to get the job done down the race course, we can.”
Schettle added, “I think we are all excited for tomorrow because we know we made it and it’s a load off our shoulders. Now the fun begins. Now we just go out there and race and have fun and row for what we love doing. We’ll see where it goes tomorrow and we are still dreaming big.”
The UW varsity eight is now guaranteed its highest NCAA finish in school history. In the six prior trips to the NCAA championships, the boat finished between 13th and 16th. They will finish no lower than 12th place this year.
The eighth-seeded second varsity eight grabbed the third and final semifinal spot in its race with a comfortable two-second margin over Washington State. Stanford took the heat in 6:30.44, while California placed second in 6:33.58 and the Badgers took third in 6:36.74. Washington State (6:38.86) and Michigan State (6:44.89) rounded out the heat placements.
“We were down a little bit off the start, but weren’t really worried about it,” said second varsity eight coxswain Molly Evjen. “As the race went on, we were able to get ahead of Washington State and Michigan State and we just tried to row really clean and long all the way to the finish line.
“Tomorrow we plan on working on our start and getting off a little quicker. The goal was to place as high as possible, but mainly to race our best race and to qualify. I think we can go a lot faster.”
The fourth-seeded varsity four made no mistake in advancing to Saturday’s semifinals, winning the third heat of the event. The Badgers clocked a 7:15.69 to take the heat, posting the third-fastest morning time in the varsity four. Third-seeded Brown was second in 7:18.29, just edging Princeton’s time of 7:18.31, though both crews advanced to the semifinals. Stanford (7:20.57), Ohio State (7:27.39) and Tennessee (7:38.98) closed out the third heat placements.
“The varsity four had a great race,” said Bryans. “It was very clean. They were in it right from the beginning. There was a moment when it was either go with the pack to get away and they chose to take a move there and push out a little there. They are pretty confident and really competitive and that is a nice combination.”
Now the Badgers look to continue their success in Saturday’s semifinal action. At 11:15 a.m. CT, Wisconsin’s varsity eight races in the first semifinal against Stanford, Princeton, USC, Brown and Michigan with a chance to reach Sunday’s grand final. The top three teams advance, while the rest will race in the petite final.
At 11:45 p.m. CT, the second varsity eight races against Stanford, Princeton, Michigan, Washington State and Ohio State for a trip to the grand final on the line. Once again the top three boats advance to the national championship race.
The Badgers close out the day at noon CT with the varsity four race. Virginia, USC, Michigan, Princeton and Clemson will serve as opponents for the Badgers in the semifinal.
“I think the racing tomorrow is just going to be stellar,” Bryans concluded. “There’s no room for any doubt or looking around to see where you are. Tomorrow is all about no-holds-barred racing.”
Check back at UWBadgers.com later for quotes and a photo gallery.
2010 NCAA Rowing Championships
Lake Natoma
Gold River, Calif.
May 28, 2010
2000 meters
Varsity Eight
Repechage (Top three to Saturday semifinals, rest to Sunday third level final)
1. Michigan, 6:35.24; 2. Washington, 6:35.84; 3. Wisconsin, 6:36.75; 4. Washington State, 6:40.08; 5. Clemson, 6:43.81; 6. Ohio State, 6:44.94; 7. Tennessee, 6:47.04
Heat 2 (Top three to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Stanford, 6:16.81; 2. Yale, 6:17.22; 3. Brown, 6:26.61; 4. Michigan, 6:27.82; 5. Wisconsin, 6:29.82
UW Lineup - Coxswain Sarah Obernauer, Katy Haver, Grace Latz, Briana Pittman, Lisa Godhardt, Vicky Opitz, Katie Hurtis, Anna Schettle, Ahna Olson
Second Varsity Eight
Heat 2 (Top three to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Stanford, 6:30.44; 2. California, 6:33.58; 3. Wisconsin, 6:36.74; 4. Washington State, 6:38.86; 5. Michigan State, 6:44.89
UW Lineup - Coxswain Molly Evjen, Sarah Bootsma, Rebekah Foelker, Meryl Chaffee, Bronwyn Knaebe, Caitlin Mueller, Kate Mansfield, Rachel Buchholtz, Vanessa Kleiss
Varsity Four
Heat 3 (Top three to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Wisconsin, 7:15.69; 2. Brown, 7:18.29; 3. Princeton, 7:18.31; 4. Stanford, 7:20.57; 5. Ohio State, 7:27.39; 6. Tennessee, 7:38.98
UW Lineup - Coxswain Jane Roberts, Hayley Leinss, Shannon Schlack, Margaret Yale, Kirsten Morelli
