Complete Results

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men's rowing program put five boats into the water on Friday, the first day of the 2016 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships, and four of the five advanced to the next round of racing on Saturday.

The three-day event is taking place on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey.

The Badgers started the day slow, with the varsity eight falling short in its morning heat and again in the afternoon, but every other boat did enough to advance to the next round of racing in their respective events.

"Real good day, except for the varsity eight," head coach Chris Clark stated. "That is a big disappointment.

"It's tough to be too upset, because everyone else did exactly what we are supposed to do. We were significantly better all across the board than last year, so as a team we are doing it, but it just hasn't percolated to the top yet. I'm very pleased with that and we seem to be back on our way. We'll see if we can tweak the one, but it looks good for the next few years, that is for sure."

Wisconsin's second varsity eight was second on the course and switched the momentum in a hurry. The boat posted a second-place finish in its heat to advance directly to Saturday's semifinals. The Badgers rowed a 5:56.330 to place second behind California (5:54.130).

Then the third varsity eight took second to advance in its heat. UW crossed the line in 5:54.980, behind Princeton (5:52.000), but ahead of California (5:59.710) for the second qualifying spot into Saturday's semifinals.

The varsity four kept things going with a win in its heat, timing 6:35.540 to best Boston University, Columbia, Brown and three others. Only the heat winner in the varsity four advanced to Saturday's semifinals, with everyone else racing in an afternoon repechage to advance. The varsity four, with its 28 entries, is the largest race of the championships.

Finally the lightweight four placed third in its heat to advance directly to Sunday's grand final.

Wisconsin opened its 2016 IRA regatta when its top boat, the varsity eight, got off the line against California, Cornell, Columbia, Santa Clara and Drexel in the second of the four heats in the morning. Unfortunately, the Badgers finished fourth, behind California (5:43.860), Columbia (5:45.710) and Cornell (5:45.820). Wisconsin reached the 2000-meter finish line in 6:02.120.

With only the top two advancing directly to Saturday's semifinals, the Badgers raced again in an afternoon repechage heat. Stanford got the better of everyone, and grabbed the lone advancing spot by clocking 5:49.860 at the finish line. The Badgers placed third in 6:02.770 and will race again Saturday in the C/D Semifinals with eyes towards getting into the third level final for places 13-18. In all, 24 crews are in the varsity eight competition.

"The biggest thing is that they are not doing anything that they've been doing in practice," Clark stated. "It is unrecognizable. We've changed the lineup a little bit which can sometimes help with their confidence.

"We've switched a lot of lineups, given a lot of people an opportunities to perform in this boat. For about two and a half weeks, we've had a first eight that has dominated at practice every single day, but come the pressure of the championships, they rolled over a little bit and they were fourth in the heat."

The Badger men return to the water in the morning, following the start of the women's lightweight events at 7:30 a.m. CT. The men's portion of the day begins at 8:18 a.m. with the start of the varsity eight semifinals.

"Making those grand finals, it is not easy," Clark concluded. "We're in two with the lightweight four and the freshmen eight and we will see if we can get into a couple of more on Saturday."

2016 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships
Mercer Lake
West Windsor, N.J.
June 3, 2016
2000 meters

Varsity Eight
Repechage 3 (Winner to semfinals, rest to C/D semifinals)
1. Stanford, 5:49.860; 2. FIT, 5:58.590; 3. Wisconsin, 6:02.770; 4. Hobart, 6:17.280

Heat 2 (Top two advance to semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:43.800; 2. Columbia, 5:45.710; 3. Cornell, 5:45.820; 4. Wisconsin, 6:02.120; 5. Drexel, 6:08.120; 6. Santa Clara, 6:08.930

UW Lineup – Coxswain James Roen, Sam Weeks, Tristan Amberger, James Lueken, Christoph Bub, Jonah Van der Weide, George Perrett, Nickolas Montalvo, Jacob Hurlbutt
 
Second Varsity Eight
Heat 1 (Top two advance to semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:54.130; 2. Wisconsin, 5:56.330; 3. George Washington, 5:58.950; 4. Northeastern, 6:01.280; 5. Oregon State, 6:16.380

UW Lineup – Coxswain Ben Flaherty, Patrick Muto, Peter Ginouves, James Bernard, John Goodman, James Letten, Andrew Griffin, Michael Knippen, Michael Spankowski
 
Third Varsity Eight
Heat 2 (Top two advance to semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Princeton, 5:52.000; 2. Wisconsin, 5:54.980; 3. California, 5:59.710; 4. George Washington, 6:01.310; 5. Navy, 6:14.320; 6. Hobart, 6:39.140

UW Lineup – Coxswain Michael Callahan, John Hollow, David McClain, Laing Wise, Erik Kernozek, Mark Nitka, Alex Idarraga, Andrew Flannery, Theodore Boesen
 
Varsity Four
Heat 1 (Winner to semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Wisconsin, 6:35.540; 2. Boston University, 6:39.720; 3. Columbia, 6:44.850; 4. Brown, 6:48.880; 5. Marietta, 6:52.060; 6. MSOE, 6:55.280; 7. Loyola (Md.), 7:04.020

UW Lineup – Coxswain Andrew Hamilton, Graham Mink, Alexander Butler, John French, Zach Ruedinger
 
Lightweight Four
Heat 2 (Top three to Sunday grand final, rest to petite final)
1. Columbia, 6:34.710; 2. Navy, 6:37.180; 3. Wisconsin, 6:38.880; 4. Harvard, 6:39.760; 5. Cornell, 6:43.940

UW lineup – Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Steve Knopp, Thomas Walker, Kyle James, Marcelo Buxton