April 18, 2015

Redwood City, Calif. -- The Wisconsin men's rowing program hit the water for the second time since winter training at the Stanford Invitational today.

The morning session was consumed by races against California. The first varsity eight came in with a final 5:53.8, after California took the victory in 5:34.1.

"It was a tough go today, but we'll start with the varsity. Last year, Cal actually crushed us by 22 or 23 seconds and this was a little better with 18. We're a long way out of where we need to be. We didn't do ourselves any favors; we had some bad steering and a cascade of problems. It wasn't pretty and no one was even close to satisfied with that," head coach Chris Clark said about how the day started.

In their second race of the day, the varsity eight took on Oregon State's crew. It literally came down to the last second, where Oregon State was able to pull ahead for a 5:42.9 finish. The Badgers finished at 5:43.9.

"The second race was against Oregon State. They beat us by eight seconds last year and it was a tight race. We might have been up a few feet at one point but we were down virtually the whole race and ended up losing by one second. Last year we lost and then we came back to beat them at the IRAs so hopefully we can do that again. We're disappointed to lose these races, but we're taking these baby steps forward in slow motion and getting better," coach Clark added. 

The second varsity eight lost by 15 seconds to California but later topped Oregon State by six seconds. Coach Clark is confident of what is to come in the future. 

"Many things about the team are very good. Their ergs are better than ever and the guys are very strong on them, the summer training, good characters, but we just didn't have enough to win. Last year we closed about 15 seconds on Cal by the national championships and I don't see why we can't do that again. So that's the positive side of it," Clark said.

In their second race, against Oregon State, the freshman eight made a statement. The novices finished a solid 17 seconds ahead of the competition, with an official 5:49.6. Coach Clark was very pleased with the results.

"The freshman in the afternoon dominated. That's a good group. We have a good group of All-American 18 year olds and it bodes well for their future. Some of these kids in other programs would certainly by in the 2V if not the 1V, but we've decided to keep them right where they are to develop and learn how to do some winning. They're doing great. I'm excited to see not just how they do this year but how they will do in the years to come." Clark said. 

"It was indicative in the morning that the freshman had the fastest time of all three of our boats. In the afternoon, the wind came up some and the varsity improved their time by 10 seconds, which is impressive. Even though we lost the race that was a big jump and we got a lot more solid and a lot better. We just have to be able to finish," Clark added.

"We race Stanford tomorrow so that's going to be a tough one. They beat Oregon State today. They had an impressive turnaround, but lost and then came around and beat us. It would have been easy for them to roll over and feel sorry for themselves, but they didn't and I was impressed. Tomorrow, Stanford will be tough and then at home in two weeks we have home races at Devil's Lake," Clark finished.

Tomorrow the Badgers will take on Stanford in every event, starting at 11:30 a.m. 

Stanford Invitational
Redwood City, Calif.
Lake Natoma
April 18, 2015
2000 meters

Morning session
Varsity Eight
1. California, 5:34.1; 2. Wisconsin, 5:53.8
UW Lineup: Coxswain James Roen, Kyle Smith, Sam Ginouves, Sam Weeks, James Lueken, Jim Letter, Patrick Muto, Michael Knippen, Matt Sobotka

Second Varsity Eight
1. California, 5:41.3; 2. Wisconsin, 5:56.6
Coxswain Ben Flaherty, Andrew Stone, Peter Burrus, Steven Thom, Laing Wise, William Bleifuss, George Perret, William Horvat, Alex Idarraga 

Freshman Eight
1. California, 5:43.8; 2. Wisconsin, 5:48.8
UW Lineup: ?Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Nickolas Montalvo, Andrew Flannery, James Bernard, Tristan Amberger, Erik Kernozek, Andrew Griffin, Jonah Van der Weide, Jacob Hurlbutt 

?Afternoon session
Varsity Eight
1. Oregon State, 5:42.9; 2. Wisconsin, 5:43.9

Second Varsity Eight
1. Wisconsin, 5:50.3; 2. Oregon State, 5:56.4

Freshman Eight
1. Wisconsin, 5:49.6; 2. Oregon State, 6:06.6