GOLD RIVER, Calif. –  Wisconsin closed out the 2019 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships by maximizing its results to combine for a 13th-place finish on the last day of the three-day event on Lake Natoma.

The varsity eight took part in one of the best races of the day and claimed fourth place in the C final for 16th overall. Five boats crossed the 2000-meter finish line with 2.2 seconds of each other in a furious event that saw at least four of those five crews leading at some point.

George Washington captured top honors by rowing through the field and winning in 5:48.910, good for 13th place overall. Navy (5:49.655) finished second, while Columbia (5:50.050) nipped the Badgers for third place. Pennsylvania (5:51.027) and Colgate (5:58.708) rounded out the race.

The Badgers' second varsity eight won their C final to take 13th place. UW beat out Columbia by just under 1.5 seconds to collect the win.

The third varsity eight ended up 12th after placing sixth in the B final of the event. The boat was the lone one of the weekend to reach the second-level final for places seven through 12.

The varsity four took 15th with a third place in its C final.

Wisconsin placed 13th in the points standings for the Ten Eyck Trophy with 63 points. Washington, the varsity eight runners-up, won the team title with 207 points. Yale, the varsity eight champion for the third consecutive year, took second just two points behind the Huskies.

Straight from the Lake
Head Coach Chris Clark
On a good weekend at the national championships
"We have achieved our objectives, which was beat our seeds in all three eights which early in the year might have seemed somewhat of a stretch. We felt certainly in the last two weeks that it was inevitable and we did. We flirted with really pounding our seed in the varsity eight, in our third level final, there was barely anything separating first through fifth and we were fourth in that final. One of the takeaways for our guys is how much everything matters when it's that tight."

On the varsity eight
This is not a very physical crew. The fourth 2K, with a boat that averages weights in the mid-180s and significantly lighter than most other teams here, it really catches up to you. They really raced well and they felt that was as good a race as they've had, they just finished about a second shorter than they wanted to get 13th instead they got 16th."

On maxing out the team's potential
"Everybody is walking away quite pleased. In many ways, this was a year from hell with the conditions, injuries and illnesses. To their credit, apart from being possibly the best students we've ever had, the GPA shows it, also academic awards, super-impressive people. They are really mature in a moral and ethical sense that when things were rough, which was the absolute entire year, never once did they point fingers at their teammates which can easily happen under intense pressure. They all just looked in the mirror, which is what you dream of as a coach, but hardly ever see it. By the end of the season, right now, we were at our absolute max. That was it. We had no more in the tank. I've been coaching a for a long time and that is one of the few times I've ever seen that. You talk a big game about peaking at the end of the season, but it doesn't always work that way. In this case it absolutely did."  

On next year
"Only six of the 28 guys rowing were seniors, so we are going to turn the screw in a good way on the guys we have. We've already met. We told them we are upping everything. We have to get a lot more physical and we are expecting some big contributions from freshmen."

2019 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships
June 2, 2019
Lake Natoma
Gold River, California
2000 meters

Ten Eyck Trophy Team Scores
1. Washington, 207; 2. Yale, 205; 3. California, 189; 4. Harvard, 188; 5. Princeton, 162; 6. Brown, 155; 7. Northeastern, 146; 8. Boston University, 136; 9. Syracuse, 112; 10. Dartmouth, 105; 11. Navy, 88; 12. Cornell, 81; 13. Wisconsin, 63; 14. Stanford, 55; 15. George Washington, 42; 16. Columbia, 40; 17. Oregon State, 31; 18. Pennsylvania, 22; 19. Hobart, 11; 20. Drexel, 9; 21. Colgate, 5; 22. FIT/Santa Clara/UC-San Diego, 0

Varsity Eight
C Final (Places 13-18)
1. George Washington, 5:48.910; 2. Navy, 5:49.655; 3. Columbia, 5:50.050; 4. Wisconsin, 5:50.490; 5. Pennsylvania, 5:51.027; 6. Colgate, 5:58.708
UW Lineup - Coxswain Cameron Pak, Dylan Adams, William Alt, Adam Wehking, Kyle McCarthy, Galen Quinn, Kurt Mueller, Evan Miller, Tyler Stevens

Second Varsity Eight
C Final (Places 13-18)
1. Wisconsin, 5:56.545; 2. Columbia, 5:57.978; 3. Oregon State, 5:58.192; 4. Pennsylvania, 6:00.108; 5. Hobart, 6:03.052; 6. Stanford, 6:04.795
UW Lineup - Coxswain James Catalano, Tim Zogleman, Chase Covey, Nathan Petersen, Luke VandenHeuvel, Tyler Bernstein, Henry Roberts, Samuel Wheeler, John Young

Third Varsity Eight
B Final (Places 7-12)
1. Northeastern, 5:52.362; 2. Boston University, 5:54.912; 3. Syracuse, 5:56.504; 4. Navy, 5:57.574; 5. Wisconsin, 5:59.272; 6. Dartmouth, 6:01.736
UW Lineup - Coxswain Kaz Kishiue-Koval, Owen Lilleleht, Matthew Palmer, Jacob Wenner, Philipp Bogdanov, Matthew Bernard, Breck Duncan, James Sullivan, Alex Marett

Varsity Four
C Final (Places 13-18)
1. Oklahoma City, 6:36.266; 2. Jacksonville, 6:37.323; 3. Wisconsin, 6:38.823; 4. Brown, 6:39.976; 5. Northeastern, 6:41.763; 6. Drexel, 6:42.463
UW Lineup - Coxswain Ian Tunney, Henry Dern, Briggs Clarke, Lorenzo Miller, Jacob Buboltz