WORCESTER, Mass. – Racing at its conference championships for the first time since 2019, the Wisconsin men's rowing team battled on Lake Quinnsigamond at the 2022 Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) Championships on Sunday.

"It's great to be back at the Eastern Sprints," head coach Chris Clark said. "The first time in three years because of COVID."

The Badgers were thrilled to be back in Worcester and showed it with their first national championships automatic qualifying spot since 2017. The top nine schools at Eastern Sprints earn a 2022 IRA National Championships spot.

The Badgers sent four eights to compete and were led by their top boat, the varsity eight, which took second in the petite final for eighth place overall.

UW's second varsity eight finished in 11th place, while the third and four varsity eight's each ended up in 10th place.

Straight from the Lake
Head Coach Chris Clark
On the varsity eight
"The best performance of the day was the first eight. For seven years, we won a medal, but we haven't won a medal since 2012. We tied our best finish in the last eight years. The last time we were eighth was 2014. They really got after it. The heat in the morning was brilliant, they took off and attacked.

"In the petite final, not nearly good enough at the start, but it was terrific.

"Some real pride in the old novice model nobody uses anymore. It's incredible what you can get with the right athletes. Our whole stern four were novices.

"Adam Wehking, the stroke, and Jimmy Catalano, the coxswain, are both fifth years. Ironically, the exact thing that has hurt us on our depth with COVID on the roster is the exact thing that made us better than we've been in a while with those two fifth year's in there."

On the second varsity eight
"The 2V didn't have the race they wanted in the morning. I thought they had a chance to be in the grand final.

"They had better a race in the afternoon. They had the lead for over 1000 meters, but ran out of gas and end up getting fifth. They were only a few seconds from winning the petite final."

On the third varsity eight
"The third eight has a senior stroke and senior in the bow and six freshmen in the middle and they were right in the thick of it in the petite final. They ended up getting 11th, but very pleased with their performance. No teams have the makeup we have, not with our four walk-ons and all our novices rowing. They are not going to knock you out of the park with their stats, but a great face for our future.

"Of the 27 we have left on the team, 24 are committed to continuing rowing all summer. Obviously, a group who wants to be around each other and have success."

On the fourth varsity eight
"We really debated the fourth eight because we don't have our usual depth, all COVID related, but at the last minute we figured why not. There were five freshmen in there and three upperclassmen. They raced valiantly, they're just not very strong. They've taken big strides in the last three weeks and were competitive.

"They got better during the regatta. In the second race, they got after it. We were happy they were in the middle of it and they'll be in the mix for the four for our national championship."

EARC Championships
May 15, 2022
Lake Quinnsigamond
Worcester, Mass.
2000 meters

Varsity Eight
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Northeastern, 6:10.705; 2. Wisconsin, 6:14.912; 3. Boston University, 6:14.918; 4 Cornell, 6:17.173; 5. Navy, 6:18.090; 6. Columbia, 6:27.065

Heat 2 (Top 2 to grand final, 3-4 to petite final, rest to third-level final)
1. Brown, 5:47.099; 2. Harvard, 5:48.896; 3. Wisconsin, 5:55.381; 4. Cornell, 6:03.689; 5. Georgetown, 6:18.469

UW Lineup: Coxswain James Catalano, Adam Wehking, Joseph Cleary, Edward Brody, Breck Duncan, Dylan Green, Galen Quinn, Isaac Krahn, Olin Frederiks

Second Varsity Eight
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Syracuse, 6:09.513; 2. Navy, 6:10.833; 3. Northeastern, 6:12.760; 4. Cornell, 6:12.797; 5. Wisconsin, 6:13.844; 6. Pennsylvania, 6:19.437

Heat 2 (Top 2 to grand final, 3-4 to petite final, rest to third-level final)
1. Dartmouth, 6:00.447; 2. Boston University, 6:06.580; 3. Northeastern, 6:11.833; 4. Wisconsin, 6:15.747; 5. Georgetown, 6:15.747
UW Lineup: Coxswain Jonah Rane, Aidan Schmidt, Michael Horan, Sebastian Murrell, Garrison Waugh, Josh Wehking, Lorenzo Miller, Samuel Crowley, Matthew King

Third Varsity Eight
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Cornell, 6:08.714; 2. Boston University, 6:09.131; 3. Navy, 6:11.609; 4. Wisconsin, 6:17.634; 5. Pennsylvania, 6:23.854; 6. Holy Cross, 6:43.866

Heat 2 (Top 3 to grand final, rest to petite final)
1. Harvard, 5:58.909; 2. Dartmouth, 5:59.946; 3. Syracuse, 6:05.649; 4. Navy, 6:14.109; 5. Wisconsin, 6:20.742; 6. Pennsylvania, 6:25.682
UW Lineup: Coxswain Grayson VanLue, Jeremy Falstad, Jack O'Brien, Walter Stanwood, Will Klipstine, Dylan Knanishu, Luke Truog, Ethan Dooley, Michael Santry

Fourth Varsity Eight
Petite Final (Places 7-11)
1. Boston University, 6:14.829; 2. Cornell, 6:17.122; 3. Syracuse, 6:19.709; 4. Wisconsin, 6:22.454; 5. Pennsylvania, 6:22.977

Heat 1 (Top 3 to grand final, rest to petite final)
1. Dartmouth, 6:06.837; 2. Brown, 6:09.060; 3. Princeton, 6:13.534; 4. Cornell, 6:17.430; 5. Wisconsin, 6:24.655; 6. Pennsylvania, 6:28.799
UW Lineup: Coxswain Connor Slawin, William Russell, Joshua Barth, Mitchell Lafferty, Charles Kennedy, Daniel Hintzman, Jaden Halom, Henry Voeller, Jack Turco