WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — The No. 14 Wisconsin men's rowing team seems to have hit its stride at the right time, as a spectacular start to the 2018 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships earned all four boats spots in Saturday's semifinals. 
 
After finishing outside the top-two in the morning heats, all three eights took first in their respective repechage heats to advance to A/B semifinals for the first time since 2014. 
 
Varsity Eight
The Badgers' varsity eight opened the morning with a fourth-place finish in the third heat, crossing the finish line with a time of 5:54.75 to move on to the afternoon repechage race. 
 
No. 1 California and No. _ Princeton finished first and second, respectively, to claim the top two spots and advance to Saturday's semifinals.
 
Following the morning race, Wisconsin returned to the water for the repechage and a second chance at moving on to the semifinals. 
 
The Badgers maintained the lead early and finished nearly four seconds ahead of second-place finisher Pennsylvania to secure a lane in the first varsity eight semifinals on Saturday.  
 
Wisconsin will race in the first of four semifinal heats at 7:20 a.m. CT tomorrow morning. 
 
Second Varsity Eight
Similarly to the first varsity eight, the second varsity eight could not secure a top-two finish in the second heat of the morning, finishing third behind Princeton and Harvard with a time of 5:54.48.
 
Despite failing to qualify during the morning heat, however, the Badgers beat out George Washington and Stanford in the afternoon repechage to claim the race and earn Wisconsin's second semifinal berth of the day. 
 
The Badgers' second varsity eight will race in the third semifinal heat tomorrow morning at 7:48 a.m. CT. 
 
Third Varsity Eight
After finishing third in the fourth heat of the morning race, the Badgers' third varsity eight punched its ticket to the semifinals with a victory in the afternoon repechage. 
 
Wisconsin finished two seconds ahead of Cornell with a time of 5:58.22 to take first. 
 
The Badgers will race in the first semifinal heat tomorrow morning at 7:57 a.m. CT. 
 
Varsity Four
Because only the first-place finisher in the each varsity four morning heat qualifies for the semifinals, Wisconsin's second-place finish forced them to head back to the course for the afternoon repechage. 
 
Luckily, the Badgers defeated Boston University in an exciting head-to-head battle with a time of 6:38.61 to advance to Saturday's semifinals. 
 
With the victory, Wisconsin went a perfect four-for-four in the repechage heats, becoming one of just nine teams to advance all four boats to Saturday's A/B semifinals. 
 
Up Next: The IRA National Championships continue tomorrow with semifinals before concluding on Sunday with the finals. 
 
Straight from the Lake
Head coach Chris Clark
On today's performance: 
"We're in excellent position, the best position in quite a while. Ideally, you advance directly to the semifinal, which for those who don't knowing rowing that much, is 12 boats. We didn't do that with any of the four. We had to go to the reps, but we won every rep, which has not happened in a long time. It's great news. Since the modern era of rowing— so since 2014 when the freshman eight eventstarted to go away and the third eight was added to the program— this is the first time we've had all three eights in an A/B semi. We're still in the hunt for first through 12th. That's a small achievement in some ways. They certainly don't get any medals for it, and there's no parade. However, it's big for us, that we've stabilized and we're starting to repopulate the boathouse with people who are only limited by physiology, not by psychology. You can go a long way with mentally tough people. We're not completely there yet, but we're close."
 
"We were 11th in our conference and we're already beat some of the teams, or are ahead of some the teams that have beaten us there, so that's exciting as well."
 
On tomorrow's races: 
"We have semis tomorrow morning, we'll see how we shake out. The regatta's done on Sunday, and already we've beaten our seed in the first varsity, which was 14th. The lowest we can do is 12th, which is always a positive thing." 
 
"It's really hot, today. The weather might start being a factor. At this point, the lanes were fair. You never know, that could also impact us as well because when you're one of the lower seeds, you don't get as good a lane. I'm not quibbling again at this point. I'll go with it. We have people who want to race, who are willing to race, and who are able to race." 
 
2018 IRA National Championships
West Windsor, N.J.
Mercer Lake
June 1, 2018
2000 meters
 
VARSITY EIGHT
Repechage 1 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinals)
1. Wisconsin, 5:41.96; Pennsylvania, 5:45.23; 3. Ohio Statue University, 5:50.75; 4. San Diego, 6:12.87
 
Heat 3 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:40.19; 2. Princeton, 5:43.642; 3. Dartmouth, 5:48.646; 4. Wisconsin, 5:54.745; 5. FIT, 6:00.86; 6. Marist, 6:02.295
 
UW Lineup: Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Nickolas Montalvo, William Alt, Jonah Van der Weide, Andrew Griffin, Dylan Adams, Tristan Amberger, Alexander Butler, Thomas Walker
 
SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Repechage 3 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinals)
1. Wisconsin, 5:58.24; 2. George Washington, 6:02.72; 3. Stanford, 6:06.18
 
Heat 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Harvard, 5:48.32; 2. Princeton, 5:51.27; 3. Wisconsin, 5:54.48; 4. Navy, 5:59.08; 5. Temple, 6:11.08
 
UW Lineup: Coxswain Cameron Pak, John Hollow, Philipp Bogdanov, Kurt Mueller, James Bernard, Kyle McCarthy, Nathan Petersen, Tyler Stevens, Jacob Wenner
 
THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Repechage 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinal)
1. Wisconsin, 5:58.22; 2. Cornell 6:00.49; 3. George Washington, 6:02.15; 4. St. Joesph's, 6:24.67; 5. FIT, 6:32.12
 
Heat 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Harvard, 5:52.75; 2. Princeton, 5:55.86; 3. Wisconsin, 6:02.77; 4. Navy, 6:06.97
 
UW Lineup: Coxswain Kaz Kishiue-Koval, Matthew Palmer, John Young, Adam Wehking, Will Klauke, Tim Zogleman, Luke VandenHeuvel, Evan Miller, Chase Covey
 
VARSITY FOUR
Repechage 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinals)
1. Wisconsin, 6:38.61; 2. Boston University, 6:39.47; 3. Cornell, 6:42.92; 4. Marietta, 6:45.60
 
Heat 3 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Princeton, 6:33.19; 2. Wisconsin, 6:39.49; 3. MIT, 6:41.99; 4. MSOE, 6:53.33; 5. Syracuse, 6:58.87
 
UW Lineup: Coxswain Ian Tunney, Parker Brooks, Samuel Wheeler, Andrew Flannery, Tyler Bernstein