Wisconsin Women's Openweight Rowing Earns NCAA Bid
May 18, 2004 | Women's Rowing
The No. 10 Wisconsin women's openweight program earned one of 12 team invitations and will race in the 2004 NCAA Rowing Championships, May 28-30 in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The bid is the first for the Badgers since 1999 and the second in school history. Rowing became an NCAA sponsored sport in 1997.
'We kind of expected it, but it's nice to have confirmation,' said interim director of women's crew Sue Ela. 'One's goal is to go to the NCAA championship every year. This year 's team deserves, maybe more than any other, to go because of how hard they 've worked and how unified they've been in reaching their goal and showing themselves and the world it could be done. With that invitation they are on their way, but now the job is to be prepared to race and win.'
Varsity eight national champions in 1975 and 1986, Wisconsin 's tradition-laden program has been absent from the national scene for much of the last eight years. Save the team's 10th-place NCAA finish in 1999, Wisconsin has no appearances in the national championships since finishing third in the varsity eight in 1996 at the National Collegiate Rowing Championship in Cincinnati, the year before the NCAA started sponsoring women's rowing.
Wisconsin has stormed back into the realm of rowing's elite this season. Ranked No. 19 in the preseason Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing Poll, the Badgers steadily climbed to their current position among the nation's top-10 varsity eights.
Perhaps more importantly, as far as its NCAA hopes were concerned, Wisconsin placed second at the 2004 Big Ten Rowing Championships, taking third in the varsity eight. Then the team finished third overall and second among Central region schools at the 2004 Central/South Region NCAA Qualifier last weekend. Only Michigan finished ahead of the Badgers at Big Tens, and only Virginia and Ohio State beat out Wisconsin at the regional. All three schools have been among the elite rowing programs over the last five years and the Badgers proved they could compete with the best.
Wisconsin boasts a youthful program, with up to five sophomores rowing in the varsity eight at one time during the season. 10 sophomores and a pair of first-year rowers made up 12 of Wisconsin's 23 rowers that competed in the three NCAA boats, the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four at last week 's regional.
In the Badgers' 1999 NCAA appearance, the UW collected 10 points for its 10th-place finish. Wisconsin's best result came in the varsity four, where it claimed sixth place. The UW second varsity eight finished 10th, while the varsity eight place 13th. Brown won the NCAA title that year, tying Virginia with 56 points, but winning the team title by finishing higher than the Cavaliers in the varsity eight, the tiebreaking event.
In addition to Wisconsin, selections to this year's NCAA championships include Big Ten schools Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State from the Central region, Virginia from the South region, Washington, Washington State and California from the West region, Princeton from the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as defending-champion Harvard, Brown and Yale from the New England region. Schools receiving only varsity eight invitations include Notre Dame from the Central, Tennessee and Texas from the South and Southern California from the West.
Racing at the 2004 NCAA Rowing Championships will take place at CSUS Aquatic Center, located in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Sacramento State will play host to the event.
'This was a benchmark, but we certainly have our work to do in the next week and a half,' added Ela. 'Everybody contributed to the success up to right now, but in the same light, when you face the top crews in the country you have to be at your best so the challenge continues.'
