June 4, 2011

Complete Results | Team Standings

MADISON, Wis. –  A massive sprint at the end of the varsity eight race at the 2011 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships nearly earned the Badgers a silver medal, but the sprint fell fractions of a second short and the Badgers ended up fourth in the national championship race. Racing took place on the Cooper River in Camden and Cherry Hill, N.J.

“Every coach, their objective in any sport is to have their best performance at the very end of the season," said Head Coach Chris Clark. "It has been three years since we’ve had a performance like this in the varsity eight. These guys absolutely laid down their finest race, from lane six no less, which is considered to be the slowest lane at the regatta. It was really a brave performance by them and just a hair out of second place."

The six-boat national championship race stood nearly dead even at the 1000-meter midway point of the race when Washington moved ahead of the field they would eventually conquer. Brown was in the mix as well, until California moved into second, taking Harvard and Wisconsin with it. As Washington slowly pulled away, it appeared California, Harvard, Wisconsin, Brown and then Princeton would be the final results. However, like it did in the semifinals, Harvard made a move approaching 500 meters left, giving California a run. The Badgers dropped back a little, but then made a furious sprint, closing hard on California and Harvard. As the line approached, all three crews appeared even at points, but when the spray settled, Harvard finished ahead of California for second place, while the Badgers crossed a deck behind in fourth place.

Washington won in 5:30.623, while Eastern Sprints-champion Harvard (5:33.302), California (5:33.406) and Wisconsin (5:34.038) finished within 0.8 seconds of each other at the line. Rounding out the finals were Brown (5:36.899) and Eastern Sprints runner-up Princeton (5:38.500).

"Hats off to them," Clark said. "They’ve come a long way. If people really knew the constituency of our boat... we have a few kids who rowed in high school and none of them were on anybody’s depth chart as being a star recruit by a long shot. Then we have a number of kids who just learned to row here at Wisconsin. They were brilliant against that formidable field, including the three boats that were ahead of them. Our guys really stepped up. Really exciting to see and a great way to end laying it all on the line."

Making up Wisconsins varsity eight were coxswain Anthony Altimari, Andrew Gallagher, Michael Kaufman, Tim Aghai, Luke Juckett, Daniel Gengler, Dan Agostinacchio, Cody Rissman and Sam Hoidal.

The second varsity eight won its fifth medal in seven years, but its first since 2008. The Badgers captured bronze in the event with a time of 5:46.485. Washington won gold in 5:36.969, with Harvard second in 5:38.526. The battle for fourth was extremely tight, with Princeton prevailing in 5:50.093, Cornell in fifth in 5:50.789 and California inches back in 5:50.791.

The bronze medal-winning crew included coxswain Michael Patinkin, Dave Lucas, Christopher Stiles, Daniel Moore, Zach Rodenbough, Matthew Hinkamp, Liam Saunders, Ryan Thompson and Ben Ruble.

The open four produced the Badgers’ highest finish of the day, with the UW placing second behind Washington. Harvard took third in the event. The Huskies won in 6:23.865 and the Badgers followed in 6:26.918. Harvard's time of 6:31.123 gave it bronze ahead of fourth-place Navy (6:36.077). Cornell (6:38.545) and Yale (6:43.502) rounded out the grand final participants.

Wisconsin’s varsity four placed sixth in its grand final, as Washington (6:19.045), Brown (6:21.859) and Drexel (6:23.039) took home the medals. The medal for Drexel marked the schools first IRA medal. Wisconsin reached the line in 6:29.153.

"We were sixth in the varsity four and gave a valiant effort," Clark stated. "We were in second at the 1000, but faded a bit.

"The varsity four is, in some ways, the deepest event. That is because a number of programs who don’t have eights qualified enter their four best guys and put them in that event. Our are guys, are very good guys, but are somewhere beyond 16 on our team, so we were well pleased with that."

Finally, UW’s freshman eight placed second in the third level final behind Yale, thereby taking 14th overall. Yale won the third-level final in 5:53.628, with the Badgers clocking 5:54.648. California captured the freshman eight title with a win in the grand final in 5:36.133.

"The frosh continued, for them, a string of disappointments," Clark explained. "They were second in the third level final and 14th. Not a good finish for us. One of the worst ones we’ve had a in a long time. A pretty good group of guys, though.

"A layman may think it is all about rowing together, but sometimes even coaches forget that it is great to have strong guys and tough guys but if they don’t work as a unit, you are not going anywhere. We’ve got a highly-motivated corps and many of them are rowing in the summer, so they’ve got nowhere to go but up and I’m sure they will. We’ve left here with even less performance on the final day from freshmen so I’m not too worried about it even though it will require some work."

In the race for the Ten Eyck Trophy for the team title, which only counts the varsity eight, second varsity eight and freshman eight, Washington captured the victory with 195 points. The Badgers' accumulated 138 points to finish sixth as a team.

"We did win the Clayton Chapman Award, which is the most improved team performance," Clark said. "That is not something you want to win very often, because it implies you've had a not-so-good year the year before, however, walking away with any hardware we appreciate, so that was nice.

"It’s been a long, long year. We’ll get back in the office on Monday and start thinking about 2011-12. There are a lot of proud Badgers walking around today and there should be. It was a very good performance."

2011 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships
Cooper River
Camden/Cherry Hill, N.J.
2000 meters
June 4, 2011
 

Ten Eyck Trophy (Team Championship)
1. Washington, 195 points; 2. Harvard, 184; 3. California, 173; 4. Princeton, 155; 5. Brown, 142; 6. Wisconsin, 138; 7. Cornell, 135; 8. Boston University, 99; 9. Yale, 99; 10. Syracuse, 92; 11. Navy, 87; 12. Stanford, 85; 13. Dartmouth, 67; 14. Penn, 48; 15. Columbia, 47; 16. Georgetown, 35; 17. Gonzaga, 31; 18. UC-San Diego, 26

Varsity Eight
Grand Final
1. Washington, 5:30.623; 2. Harvard, 5:33.302; 3. California, 5:33.406; 4. Wisconsin, 5:34.038; 5. Brown, 5:36.899; 6. Princeton, 5:38.500
UW Lineup: Coxswain Anthony Altimari, Andrew Gallagher, Michael Kaufman, Tim Aghai, Luke Juckett, Daniel Gengler, Dan Agostinacchio, Cody Rissman, Sam Hoidal

Second Varsity Eight
Grand Final
1. Washington, 5:36.969; 2. Harvard, 5:38.526; 3. Wisconsin, 5:46.485; 4. Princeton, 5:50.093; 5. Cornell, 5:50.789; 6. California, 5:50.791
UW Lineup: Coxswain Michael Patinkin, Dave Lucas, Christopher Stiles, Daniel Moore, Zach Rodenbough, Matthew Hinkamp, Liam Saunders, Ryan Thompson, Ben Ruble

Open Four
Grand Final
1. Washington, 6:23.865; 2. Wisconsin, 6:26.918; 3. Harvard, 6:31.1123; 4. Navy, 6:36.077; 5. Cornell, 6:38.545; 6. Yale, 6:43.502
UW Lineup: Christopher Lawrence, Steve Dudek, Connor Cahill, John Schoback, Alec Schlemmer

Varsity Four
Grand FInal
1. Washington, 6:19.045; 2. Brown, 6:21.859; 3. Drexel, 6:23.039; 4. Navy, 6:24.403; 5. Stanford, 6:24.474; 6. Wisconsin, 6:29.153
UW Lineup: Eric Rhiel, Jack Yeksigian, Will Porter, Brad Betts, Lowell McNicholas

Freshman Eight
Third Level Final
1. Yale, 5:53.628; 2. Wisconsin, 5:54.648; 3. Syracuse, 5:54.648; 4. Pennsylvania, 6:02.392; 5. Gonzaga, 6:07.603
UW Lineup: Coxswain Leonard Manning, Travis Breunig, Chase Tarrier, Matt Sobotka, Vince Bertram, Kevin Ripley, Logan Hietpas, Matt Bakken, Michael Lindberg