May 29, 2015

IRA National Championship Central

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WEST WINDSOR, N.J. --- No. 15 Wisconsin men's rowing opened racing at the 2015 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships with one boat advancing directly to a grand final, three reaching semifinals and one relegated to the second-tier semifinal round.

The Badger freshman eight won its heat over California, Navy and Princeton to take a short path to Sunday's grand final. The victory advanced UW to the grand final, while the remaining freshman crews have to race in Saturday's repechage to advance.

The Badgers clocked 5:58.533 over the 2,000-meter Mercer Lake course to win the heat. California was second in 6:01.241, with Navy (6:21.312) and Princeton (6:21.778) rounding out the placements.

Washington won the other freshman eight heat to join the Badgers in the final.

"The freshman were excellent," head coach Chris Clark remarked. "They are a very tough group. Our freshman hadn't won a heat like that here in a long time."

"The way it works here, with freshman in particular, is we build our program on less heralded recruits and multi-sport, multi-letterman athletes in Wisconsin. And the combination of those two will yield excellence. That is what is happening here. These guys have a real will to win and will to be ahead. They are real racers, which we've had a dearth of that on our team for a while. It is exciting to see.

"A lot of teams have taken their freshman up, but we've taken a calculated gamble to keep them right where they are to build a unit cohesion and get them the experience of racing top boats. So far it is paying off."

The other Badger boat to only need one race Friday to advance was the third varsity eight. UW's entry placed second and grabbed the second qualifying spot into the semifinals with the result. In the heat, Princeton captured the win with a 6:04.358, with the Badgers second in 6:07.203. Yale was a distant third place in 6:21.613.

UW's third varsity eight will next race on Saturday in the semifinals, with the top three from each race advancing to Sunday's grand final.

"The third varsity was a bit of a surprise," Clark said. "There are six sophomores in that boat and they really stepped up. Hopefully tomorrow they can take it to the next step and make it to the grand final."

Also advancing to semifinals were the second varsity eight and varsity four crews. Both won their repechages to advance after finishing outside the qualifying spots in the morning heats.

"The second varsity is a boat that hasn't been together very long, filled with mostly young guys," Clark explained. "They are understanding and learning about how hard they have to push to be successful.

"Our varsity four, which is comprised of freshman qualified for the A/B semifinal as well, that's also excellent news."

The varsity eight fell just short of reaching the semifinal round and a spot among the top-12 crews in the country. After taking fourth in their morning heat behind California, Harvard and Columbia, the Badgers were second in their afternoon repechage heat, one spot shy of reaching the semfinals. Pennsylvania upended Wisconsin by about a boat length with a time of 5:48.852. Wisconsin's clocked a time of 5:51.023 for second, which puts them into the C/D semifinals on Saturday.

"The varsity eight is not a strong eight as far as power, but they are clever, they are seniors and they were pretty disappointed by not winning that rep, but it does happen," Clark analyzed. "They have two more races to go, so hopefully they can win the next two."

Wisconsin also has a lightweight four competing at the national championships, but their first appearance comes Saturday in a morning heat of the 13-boat event at 7:48 a.m. CT. The event finishes in one day, with the grand and petite finals taking place just past noon on Saturday.

Saturday's schedule for the Badgers continues with second semifinal of the third varsity eight at 8:24 a.m. Other races for UW on Saturday include its second varsity eight semifinal at 8:48 a.m., the varsity eight at 9:48 a.m. in its C/D semifinal and the varsity four at 11:12 a.m.

2015 IRA National Championships
West Windsor, N.J.
Mercer Lake
May 29, 2015
2,000 meters

Varsity Eight
Repechage 3 (Winner to A/B semifinals, rest to C/D semifinals)
1. Pennsylvania, 5:48.852; 2. Wisconsin, 5:51.023; 3. Hobart, 5:53.485; 4. Oregon State, 6:01.083

Heat 2 (Top 2 to semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:51.813; 2. Harvard, 5:59.051; 3. Columbia, 6:03.499; 4. Wisconsin, 6:06.515; 5. Holy Cross, 6:06.990; 6. Oklahoma City, 6:22.715
UW Lineup -- Coxswain Michael Callahan, Kyle Smith, Peter Ginouves, Matt Sobotka, Vince Bertram, William Bleifuss, Steve Berg Jr., Andrew Stone, Jonathan Dobson

Second Varsity Eight
Repechage 2 (Winner to A/B semifinals, rest to C/D semifinals)
1. Wisconsin, 5:57.866; 2. Syracuse, 6:01.593; 3. FIT, 6:27.702

Heat 2 (Top 2 to semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:56.820; 2. Yale, 5:50.617; 3. Wisconsin, 6:06.819; 4. Drexel, 6:09.634; 5. Oregon State, 6:25.887
UW Lineup -- Coxswain Ben Flaherty, James Lueken, Graham Mink, Sam Weeks, Patrick Muto, Michael Knippen, George Perrett, Peter Burrus, William Horvat

Third Varsity Eight
Heat 3 (Top 2 to A/B semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Princeton, 6:04.358; 2. Wisconsin, 6:07.203; 3. Yale, 6:21.613; 4. Pennsylvania, 6:30.300; 5. Hobart, 6:45.743
UW Lineup -- Coxswain James Roen, Sam Helle, Laing Wise, Steven Thom, John Goodman, Jack Spencer, Jim Letten, John French, Alex Idarraga

Freshman Eight
Heat 2 (Winner to Sunday grand final, rest to Saturday repechage)
1. Wisconsin, 5:58.533; 2. California, 6:01.241; 3. Navy, 6:21.312; 4. Princeton, 6:21.778
UW Lineup -- Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Nickolas Montalvo, Andrew Flannery, James Bernard, Tristan Amberger, Erik Kernozek, Andrew Griffin, Jonah Van der Weide, Jacob Hurlbutt

Varsity Four
Repechage 1 (Top 2 to A/B semifinals, rest to C/D semifinals)
1. Wisconsin, 6:37.582; 2. Marietta, 6:40.405; 4. Navy, 6:51.820; 4. Northeastern, 6:53.740

Heat 1 (Winner to semifinals, rest to repechage)
1. California, 6:36.725; 2. Wisconsin, 6:38.683; 3. Harvard, 6:48.496; 4. Pennsylvania, 7:00.985; 5. Dartmouth, 7:06.248
UW Lineup -- Coxswain Jefferson Chan, John Hollow, Alexander Butler, Christoph Bub, Theodore Boesen