June 3, 2010
Photo Gallery
CHERRY HILL, N.J. - The sixth-ranked Wisconsin men's rowing team advanced four of its five boats to Friday semifinal action on the first day of the 2010 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships on Thursday. Racing is taking place on the Cooper River over three days.
In hot conditions, UW's varsity eight boat missed out on making Friday's semifinals, and will wrap up the season on Saturday in the third-level final for places 13-18.
"I've been thinking all year long that having seven new guys in the varsity eight would cost us at some point and today it cost us," said Head Coach Chris Clark. "Our guys didn't do what they normally do. The intensity and their emotions got a hold of them. We train so much and so hard trying to put enough pressure on them. Experience allows you to perform as expected or even better, but we don't have that. I think the gravity of this got to them, no question.
"As a team we are going to do alright, but these guys were not happy. I'm not happy."
The Badgers had a tough start in Thursday morning's third heat and placed fifth in a heat where two boats advance to the semifinals. The Badgers clocked a 5:50.020 over 2000 meters, well behind the pace of top-ranked Washington, which timed a 5:30.459. Dartmouth was second in 5:35.881 to claim the second semifinal spot.
"This morning we had a bobble at the start, our two seat jumped his slide, and we never really recovered from that," stated junior coxswain Anthony Altimari. "It wasn't his fault or anyone else's fault. There was just a real long pause before the start. We turned into the buoy lines and it was hard getting out of that. Starting from a deficit like that is just really hard to come back from. We never really got into a rhythm either. Then we just shut it down to save it for this afternoon, but it wasn't really there this afternoon."
In the afternoon repechage, where the top three boats out of six advance to the semifinals in a last chance, the Badgers again placed fifth, this time in 5:38.136. Boston University won the repechage in 5:31.636, with Cornell (5:31.702) and Northeastern (5:32.066) also advancing.
"In this race, they were just awful from get go," said Clark. "Every stroke, there was nothing against crews that we've already beaten easily this year. The run up has been great. We've been rowing the fastest we've rowed all year leading up to this. You've got guys in the big show for the first time and it doesn't take long for it to cascade into something you don't want and that is what happened.
"I've been here a long time and this is only the second crew I've had in the third level final. These guys are pretty good and I'm sure they'll do fine in the third level final because the heat will be off. Guys who are still learning are prone to do things like this."
"We definitely underperformed," added Altimari. "I think that was the pressure of having young guys in the boat and I think it was a great learning experience for them. Not that I'm moving on, but I am really looking forward to next year. We've got some great guys in this boat."
Wisconsin's second varsity eight earned its semifinal spot with a second-place finish in its morning heat. California grabbed the top spot in 5:42.877, with the Badgers next in 5:47.445. Northeastern's 5:48.953 advanced it to Saturday's semifinals as the top three in the second varsity eight heats advanced.
The Badger freshmen eight took a similar path in the morning as the UW varsity eight, finishing outside the top two semifinal-advancing crews with a fourth place result in their heat. California (5:40.967) and Princeton (5:44.083) took the two spots, with Brown (5:53.905), Wisconsin (6:00.846), Yale (6:13.269) and Northeastern (6:19.625) relegated to the afternoon repechage.
The Badgers took care of its business in the afternoon, clocking a 5:45.478 to take the second of three semifinal spots out of their repechage heat. Stanford crossed the line first in 5:44.242, while Oregon State was third in 5:47.879.
Wisconsin's two four entries - the open four and varsity four - both won morning heats to advance directly to Saturday's semifinal action.
"The other guys were good," Clark said. "The second varsity eight did what they should have done. The fours and the freshmen are doing well."
The second varsity eight, freshmen eight, open four and varsity four all race again on Friday in semifinal action. The top three boats from each semifinal advance to Saturday's grand finals.
Also racing on Friday are Wisconsin's women's lightweight rowers. The two-time defending national champion varsity lightweight eights open heats with the first race of the morning at 7:30 a.m. CT. UW's lightweight four also races
For complete race post-race coverage of Wisconsin, visit UWBadgers.com. Also follow along during the event at twitter.com/BadgerRowing. Listen live to the race call at stretchinternet.com. Row2k.com will also have comprehensive coverage with photos galleries, recaps and results.
2010 IRA National Championships
Cooper River
Cherry Hill, N.J.
June 3, 2010
2000 meters
Varsity Eight
Repechage 1 (Top 3 to Friday semifinals, rest to Saturday third-level final)
1. Boston University, 5:31.636; 2. Cornell, 5:31.702; 3. Northeastern, 5:32.066; 4. Stanford, 5:32.838; 5. Wisconsin, 5:38.136; 6. Pennsylvania, 5:50.131
Heat 3 (Top 2 to Friday semifinals, rest to Thursday afternoon repechages)
1. Washington, 5:30.459; 2. Dartmouth, 5:35.881; 3. Stanford, 5:42.873; 4. Navy, 5:43.372; 5. Wisconsin, 5:50.020; 6. Jacksonville, 6:05.360
UW Lineup - Coxswain Anthony Altimari, Tim Aghai, Roger Huffman, Matt Lojkovic, Max Goff, Daniel Gengler, Steve Dudek, Luke Juckett, Sam Hoidal
Second Varsity Eight
Heat 2 (Top 3 to Friday semifinals, rest to Thursday afternoon repechages)
1. California, 5:42.877; 2. Wisconsin, 5:47.445; 3. Northeastern, 5:48.953; 4. Boston University, 5:54.870; Navy, 5:55.608
UW Lineup - Coxswain Matt Francsis, Michael Kaufman, Zach Rodenbough, Paul Williams, James Hadar, Jack Yeksigian, Andrew Gallagher, Ryan Thompson, Eric Duhon
Freshmen Eight
Repechage 2 (Top 3 to Friday semifinals, rest to Saturday third-level final)
1. Stanford, 5:44.242; 2. Wisconsin, 5:45.478; 3. Oregon State, 5:47.879; 4. Pennsylvania, 5:52.208; 5. Syracuse, 5:52.277; 6. Northeastern, 6:00.635
Heat 3 (Top 2 to Friday semifinals, rest to Thursday afternoon repechages)
1. California, 5:40.967; 2. Princeton, 5:44.083; 3. Brown, 5:53.905; 4. Wisconsin, 6:00.846; 5. Yale, 6:13.269; 6. Northeastern, 6:19.625
UW Lineup - Coxswain Chris Lawrence, Andrew Weiland, Matthew Hinkamp, Tyler Dawson, Cody Rissman, Alec Hub, Drew Miller, Casey Klein Kennedy, Ben Ruble
Men's Open Four
Heat 2 (Top 3 to Friday semifinals, rest to Thursday afternoon repechages)
1. Wisconsin, 6:29.359; 2. Harvard, 6:33.067; 3. Boston University, 6:45.428; 4. Pennsylvania, 6:52.473
UW Lineup - Coxswain Eric Rhiel, Dan Agostinacchio, Evan Robertson, Dave Lucas, Cory Hatton
Men's Varsity Four
Heat 1 (Top 2 to Friday semifinals, rest to Thursday afternoon repechages)
1. Wisconsin, 6:26.654; 2. Yale, 6:28.951; 3. Temple, 6:39.177; 4. Holy Cross, 6:43.454; 5. Drexel, 6:50.817; 6. Loyola, 7:06.338
UW Lineup - Coxswain Michael Patinkin, Will Porter, Daniel Moore, John Ludders, Christopher Stiles
