RESULTS  |  REPLAY  

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – Make it two consecutive top-10 NCAA championship finishes for the Wisconsin women's rowing team, who used top-seven results in the second varsity eight and varsity four to power to ninth-place in the final team standings. The three-day event was completed Sunday on Mercer Lake.

"We are pretty happy with that," head coach Bebe Bryans said. "It is the same place as we were last year, but it definitely was more of a whole team effort. Last year, it was resting on the back of the varsity eight, all boats this year were super competitive."

VARSITY FOUR
Championship Sunday started with a bang as the Badgers' varsity four won the petite final to place seventh, overall.  

Iowa jumped out to an early lead and led Stanford and Wisconsin by a deck at 500 meters. Yale was right there, as well.  

All four were dead even by 750 meters, with Iowa falling back by the 1000-meter mark. That is when the Badgers made their move and slowly pulled away from the field, leading by a deck at 1250 and holding that lead over Yale at 1500 meters, with Stanford dropping a small distance behind that. By 1750 meters, Wisconsin went up by about two-thirds of a boat length and held that for finish.

Wisconsin crossed the 2000-meter finish in 7 minutes, 26.277 seconds, with Yale second, and eighth overall, in 7:27.617. Stanford was third in 7:30.875.

"They rowed really beautifully," Bryans said. "They took everything they learned from the past three races and put it together into their best race, by far.

"They were right dead level going through the 1000, but they were rowing beautifully and we knew sitting there that they were going to be able to pull that out. That was exciting to watch them take the moves and be able to move away from the other boats. That was one of the best races of the day."

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Wisconsin's first grand finalist since 2011, and its second-ever second varsity eight grand finalist (2006), ended up sixth in the 2V8 Grand Final.

Eventual team champion Washington grabbed the lead by 250 meters and never looked back, while the Badgers were running in fourth place by the first check. By 500 meters, Wisconsin saw Ohio State and Brown crawl past and ran the rest of the race in sixth behind Brown.

The Badgers made a hard charge over the last 250 meters and pulled to within two or three seats of fifth-place Brown, but never could draw even.
 
Washington won the second varsity eight national title on its way to the team title, with a time of 6:47.268. California (6:53.313) and Michigan (6:55.135) finished in the medals, with Ohio State (6:58.163), Brown (7:03.155) and Wisconsin (7:04.110) rounding out the top six.

"It got a little bit windy at the beginning of that race," Bryans said. "The head wind picked up a little bit and you can see that in the times.

"That was the first time since we've had the second varsity eight, or any boat, in the grand final for a while. To get them up into that company was really important. There is no replacement for experience like that so that is pretty exciting for our future. There are a lot of young people in that boat."

"Overall, they raced really well. They were really proud of themselves, they left everything on the race course over the course of their three races."

VARSITY EIGHT
In Wisconsin's final race of the 2017 NCAA Rowing Championships, the varsity eight started strong, sitting in third place at 500 meters behind Princeton and Virginia in the petite final. After drawing even with Virginia by 750 meters, the Cavaliers moved and Ohio State rowed past UW in a tight battle for second.

By 1500 meters, Ohio State continued its move to grab the lead, with Princeton, Brown, Virigina and Wisconsin overlapping by three seats or less, and Indiana alone in sixth.

At the finish line, Ohio State crossed first for seventh overall, then Brown edged past Princeton for second (eighth overall). Virginia held off the Badgers for fourth, while Indiana ended up sixth in the race and 12th overall.

The Buckeyes clocked 6:45.654 to win the petite final, with Brown (6:47.459) and Princeton (6:47.813) taking second and third. Virginia (6:49.534), Wisconsin (6:50.566) and Indiana (6:55.128) took 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively, overall.

"In the varsity eight, I think that was the best they were going to do," Bryans said. "The wind was going pretty strong by then. They were in there and they held. They went for it and just barely missed catching back up to Virginia at the end.

"They were a little bit disappointed that they weren't able to pull that off, but again I think it was the best race they were going to have this weekend. They just finished off strong for us."

TEAM STANDINGS
Wisconsin accumulated a school-record 86 points to place ninth in the overall team standings. The Badgers earned 36 points from its 11th-place varsity eight, while its second varsity eight won 34 points with its sixth-place result. The varsity four's seventh-place finish gave the team 16 points for its total.

Washington, coached by former Badger coxswain Yasmin Farooq, won the team title with 132 points. The Huskies won each of the three Grand Finals, becoming the first school in NCAA history to sweep all three boats.

California took second with 123 points, while Michigan led all Big Ten entries in third place with 112 points. Texas (108 points) and Ohio State (106) completed the top five teams.

"I hope that we did what we always strive to do, which is to make our Badger family proud," Bryans concluded. "I am certainly proud of them and everyone associated with this program.

"Big thanks to Terry Gawlik, our administrator, and Tricia De Souza, who has kept us health for so long and worked so hard with her stuff, and the rest of the Badger family."  

2017 NCAA Rowing Championships
West Windsor N.J.
Mercer Lake
May 28, 2017
2000 meters

TEAM SCORES
1. Washington, 132; 2. California, 123; 3. Michigan, 112; 4. Texas, 108; 5. Ohio State, 106; 6. Stanford, 105; 7. Yale, 96; 8. Brown, 91; 9. WISCONSIN, 86; 10. Princeton, 85; 11. Virginia, 74; 12. Indiana, 64; 13. Syracuse, 60; 14. Washington State, 56; 15. Iowa, 44; 16. Notre Dame, 40; 17. Northeastern, 38; 18. UCF, 28; 19. Gonzaga, 25; 20. Navy, 16; 21. Massachusetts, 15; 22. Jacksonville, 6

Varsity Eight
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Ohio State, 6:45.654; 2. Brown, 6:47.459; 3. Princeton, 6:47.813; 4. Virginia, 6:49.534; 5. Wisconsin, 6:50.566; 6. Indiana, 6:55.128
 
UW Lineup - Coxswain Lily Hansen, Callie Hebert, Janie French, Maria Schmid, Lexi Siverling, Maddie Wanamaker, Morganne Freeman, Elisabet Pietz, Dani Steinberg
 
Second Varsity Eight
Grand Final
1. Washington, 6:47.268; 2. California, 6:53.313; 3. Michigan, 6:55.135; 4. Ohio State, 6:58.163; 5. Brown, 7:03.155; 6. Wisconsin, 7:04.110

UW Lineup - Coxswain Saylor Martin, Maren Schultz, Renee Olley, Claire Scott, Sarah Gibbons, Cheyenne Brandt, Eliza Clifford, Megan Whitehouse, Monica Gerber

Varsity Four 
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Wisconsin, 7:26.277; 2. Yale, 7:27.617; 3. Stanford, 7:30.875; 4. Virginia, 7:37.187; 5. Syracuse, 7:43.588; 6. Iowa, 7:43.903

UW Lineup - Coxswain Rosie Brezynski, Alison Morrison, Gabby Simons, Kaitlin McKeogh, Marissa Gibson