May 30, 2010

NCAA Results | Photo Gallery

GOLD RIVER, Calif. – An unprecedented season for the Wisconsin women’s openweight rowing team concluded with an unprecedented seventh-place team finish at the 2010 NCAA Rowing Championships on Lake Natoma. The three-day event concluded Sunday.

Wisconsin collected 55 points, nearly doubling the school’s former high-water mark of 28 points from the 2006 season, and finished as the highest team from the Big Ten.

“It was the best it could possibly be today,” stated Head Coach Bebe Bryans. “It was the probably the best day of racing we’ve ever had. Big Tens was great, but this, there was just more pressure here. Especially coming off a less than stellar day yesterday. This was a true team performance. I couldn’t be more proud.”

The proud day began when the Badger varsity four took to the water and claimed its second top-three finish in as many years. A time of 7:13.72 over 2000 meters helped Wisconsin follow up last year’s second-place finish with a third-place result.

Virginia, which won its first overall NCAA title, also won the varsity four. The Cavaliers cruised to the varsity four championship in a time of 7:07.98, which put it 5.2 seconds faster than anyone else. California, the overall team runner-up, took second in 7:13.18. USC (7:14.87), Brown (7:18.49) and Washington (7:19.31) rounded out the grand final crews.

“We got off the line pretty well,” said sophomore coxswain Jane Roberts. “I looked over at about 250 meters and saw were in down in about fifth, but we weren’t too worried about that. We are a little slower off the line than we would like to be, but we are a little smaller, so it is ok. Then we slowly started taking off one crew at a time.

“We set our sights on USC. We wanted to give them a run for their money like they did to us yesterday. When we got up to third place, we were holding that and kept gunning. I thought we had a pretty good sprint, got some good lifts and were able to sustain it a lot longer than we ever have before. We started closing in and we looked over to see Cal right there. We kept going for them, but they got us. We ran out of course a little bit, but it was a good race.”

Wisconsin’s third-place varsity four, which earned the team 14 points, included Roberts (Arlington, Va.), sophomore Hayley Leinss (West Bend, Wis.), junior Shannon Schlack (Brooklyn, Wis.), junior Margaret Yale (Racine, Wis.) and junior Kirsten Morelli (Arlington Heights, Ill.).

Roberts added, “I think we’ve added on to a brand new tradition at Wisconsin in the varsity four and are proud of that and hopefully it can become something we can continue to do in the future.”

Wisconsin’s second varsity eight won the petite final to claim seventh place overall in the event. Trailing Washington early, the Badgers overtook the Huskies before the midway point of the race for a temporary lead that Washington State soon claimed. However, the Badgers regained the lead over the 600 meters and took home the victory.

“The second varsity was seeded eighth,” said Head Coach Bebe Bryans. “I thought that was a little bit low and it showed to be a little bit low. They showed their lack of experience yesterday and that hurt them. Bless their hearts, today they raced their brains out. They were in a tough, close race and they prevailed.”

Wisconsin’s second varsity eight earned 20 points with its seventh-place result and gave the Badgers 34 points through two events. That total had them tied for fifth place, putting the team in solid position heading into the final race of the day.

That final race for Wisconsin was the varsity eight. Racing for places seven through 12 as the No. 14 seed heading into the championships, the boat took fourth in the petite final for a school-best 10-place finish overall in the event.

“I knew that the varsity eight was going to be seeded fairly low because of the way we did in the finals of Centrals,” Bryans stated. “I knew that we were better than that if we showed up to race. We didn’t settle for the third-level final. We didn’t settle with taking 12th, because that was already higher than we were seeded.

“They raced their hearts out today. In looking at our past performance, we haven’t been able to find that. It wasn’t for lack of effort, just a lack of things coming together and they did that today.”

Wisconsin’s time of 6:24.22 put it within a half second of ninth-place UCLA (6:33.72), and more importantly gave it 21 team points. Michigan State won the petite final for seventh place overall in 6:28.53. Brown placed second in 6:32.60. Taking fifth and sixth in the petite final were Washington and Michigan, two crews that were faster than the Badgers during Saturday’s repechage heat that got the Badgers to the petite final.
 
“I could not be happier and more proud of the way the team responded to the challenge and that is what we’ve been looking for all year,” added Bryans. “Today was the beginning of next year. That is the way we look at it. We were either going to start on a high note, or start knowing it was going to be a long haul. I think it is going to be a really great long haul.

“Today was a great day for Badgers. That includes the alumni, who have been so supportive, and for the future. It is a great step.

“Now we get to remember how great today felt, but also remember yesterday and how that felt. We start again soon keeping that in mind. It is just a little reminder why we can work harder and what happens when we work harder.”

In the varsity eight grand final, Yale captured the national title, while Virginia was second to clinch its first team championships. Princeton, California, Stanford and USC rounded out the top six crews.

In the team race, Virginia collected 87 points to win the NCAA championship. California was second with 82 points, followed by Princeton (76), defending-champion Stanford (75), Brown (71) and Yale (66).
 
“Coach was telling us that before today it was a little bit more about each individual boat and today we had to go out there and do it for the team,” concluded Roberts. “Each boat had a chance to do better than they were expected and we all knew that. Yesterday was not the best for us, but I think it was important that we were able to step back up and take what we thought what was right for us.”

2010 NCAA Rowing Championships
Lake Natoma
Gold River, Calif.
May 29, 2010
2000 meters

Varsity Eight
Petite Final
1. Michigan State, 6:28.53; 2. Brown, 6:32.60; 3. UCLA, 6:33.72; 4. Wisconsin, 6:34.22; 5. Washington, 6:35.86; 6. Michigan, 6:36.58
UW Lineup – Coxswain Sarah Obernauer, Katy Haver, Grace Latz, Briana Pittman, Lisa Godhardt, Vicky Opitz, Katie Hurtis, Anna Schettle, Ahna Olson

Second Varsity Eight
Petite Final
1. Wisconsin, 6:35.96; 2. Washington State, 6:37.18; 3. Michigan State, 6:38.11; 4. Washington, 6:46.01; 5. Ohio State, 6:46.01; 6. Yale, 6:49.42
UW Lineup – Coxswain Molly Evjen, Sarah Bootsma, Rebekah Foelker, Meryl Chaffee, Bronwyn Knaebe, Caitlin Mueller, Kate Mansfield, Rachel Buchholtz, Vanessa Kleiss

Varsity Four
Grand Final
1. Virginia, 7:07.98; 2. California, 7:13.18; 3. Wisconsin, 7:13.72; 4. USC, 7:14.87; 5. Brown, 7:18.49; 6. Washington, 7:19.31
UW Lineup – Coxswain Jane Roberts, Hayley Leinss, Shannon Schlack, Margaret Yale, Kirsten Morelli