GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The first day of the 2019 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships are in the books after each of the Wisconsin men's rowing team's boats raced twice on the first day of racing on Lake Natoma.

The varsity eight finished a close fourth in its morning heat, then three seconds behind Cornell for second place in the afternoon repechages, one spot out of making the semifinals. The crew will race in Saturday's semifinal 4 at 12 p.m. CT looking to make the third level final. 

The second varsity eight posted similar results, taking fourth in its morning heat, then four seconds behind Syracuse for the lone semifinal spot coming out of its afternoon repechage. The boat will race on Saturday at 12:20 p.m. in its semifinal 4. 

UW's third varsity eight was the lone boat to reach its semifinal, taking second in its afternoon repechage to comfortably grab a spot.

The varsity four finished third in its afternoon repechage and so will race in Saturday's semifinal 3 or 4 looking to get to the third level final.
 
Straight from the Lake
Head Coach Chris Clark
"The results today reflect some of the things that have been plaguing us all year, but on the other hand there is some excellent news. I've been waiting for us to start racing – do what we are most capable of on that date and at that time and now we are doing that.

"All of them were very competitive and a few of the times we were right in the qualifying position we wanted to be. In a number of these races, all we needed was an extra-base hit and all we came up with was a single."

"The difficulty all year long has been inconsistent and spotty performances, but every single one of these races looked better than the next and that is how we want to finish the season. Hopefully we can keep it going. Modest objective is to beat our seeds and we'll see if we can get that done. The morale is pretty high. It is amazing how much better they feel about what they're doing regardless of their absolute speed. They feel they are getting close to their maximum, which they are. Hopefully we'll keep pressing forward and see more improvements tomorrow."

2019 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships
May 31, 2019
Lake Natoma
Gold River, California
2000 meters

Varsity Eight
Repechage 2 (Winner to Saturday Semifinals 1/2, rest to Semifinals 3/4)
1. Cornell, 5:50.697; 2. Wisconsin, 5:53.699; 3. Colgate, 5:57.669; 4. Hobart, 6:01.847

Heat 1 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechages)
1. Yale, 5:38.371; 2. Boston University, 5:41.393; 3. Syracuse, 5:44.476; 4. Wisconsin, 5:45.798; 5. Pennsylvania, 5:51.863; 6. Santa Clara, 5:56.806
UW Lineup - Coxswain Cameron Pak, Dylan Adams, William Alt, Adam Wehking, Kyle McCarthy, Galen Quinn, Kurt Mueller, Evan Miller, Tyler Stevens
 
Second Varsity Eight
Repechage 2 (Winner to Saturday Semifinals 1/2, rest to Semifinals 3/4)
1. Syracuse, 5:56.098; 2. Wisconsin, 6:00.802; 3. FIT, 6:12.645; 4. George Washington, 6:15.635

Heat 1 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechages)
1. Washington, 5:47.446; 2. Boston University, 5:49.926; 3. Northeastern, 5:53.453; 4. Wisconsin, 6:00.114; 5. Drexel, 6:18.554
UW Lineup - Coxswain James Catalano, Tim Zogleman, Chase Covey, Nathan Petersen, Luke VandenHuevel, Tyler Bernstein, Henry Roberts, Samuel Wheeler, John Young
 
Third Varsity Eight
Repechage 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to third level final)
1. Navy, 5:57.134; 2. Wisconsin, 6:00.737; 3. Oregon State, 6:12.649; 4. Hobart, 6:15.252; 5. George Washington, 6:15.439

Heat 4 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechages)
1. Harvard, 5:47.861; 2. California, 5:49.702; 3. Wisconsin, 6:00.307; 4. Cornell, 6:11.141
UW Lineup - Coxswain Kaz Kishiue-Koval, Owen Lilleleht, Matthew Palmer, Jacob Wenner, Philipp Bogdanov, Matthew Bernard, Breck Duncan, James Sullivan, Alex Marett
 
Varsity Four
Repechage 4 (Top two to Saturday Semifinals 1/2, rest to Semifinals 3/4)
1. Boston University, 6:37.44; 2. Dartmouth, 6:41.12; 3. Wisconsin, 6:44.39; 4. Northeastern, 6:53.40

Heat 1 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechages)
1. Washington, 6:30.248; 2. Holy Cross, 6:34.885; 3. Wisconsin, 6:42.043; 4. Oklahoma, 6:55.682; 5. Harvard, 6:56.052
UW Lineup - Coxswain Ian Tunney, Henry Dern, Briggs Clarke, Lorenzo Miller, Jacob Buboltz