Wisconsin Earns Third Straight NCAA Rowing Bid
May 16, 2006 | Women's Rowing
The Wisconsin women's openweight rowing program earned its third straight bid to the NCAA rowing championships, the NCAA announced on Tuesday. The 2006 NCAA Rowing Championships run Friday-Sunday, May 26-28 on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.
"The best thing about the news today is that we get the chance to keep going," said head coach Bebe Bryans. "We found what we were looking for and now we get to keep going. We are obviously excited to go to nationals and we're honored and thrilled to be chosen. Now it's fun."
Wisconsin earned its bid largely on the strength of its second-place finish at last weekend's 2006 NCAA Central/South Regional Regatta. The Badgers ' saw their varsity eight take fourth, their second varsity eight place second and their varsity four finish in third place in the regional, putting the Badgers in prime position for a bid.
When the announcement was made this afternoon, two items increased the drama. First, the scheduled 2 p.m. CT announcement was pushed back just over 10 minutes as the selection committee was still making decisions on the field. Secondly, the field was announced alphabetically, leaving Wisconsin as the next to last team announced to the field. The team erupted at the news while listening to the conference call at Porter Boathouse.
"We got the bid by not giving up on each other and never quiting," Bryans added. "Going through all the trials and tribulations possible - between illness and injury, the things everybody has to go through. We had one last chance to bring it together and because we relaxed and let it happen, it happened and we know we can do it again."
Wisconsin will look to improve on its previous trips to the NCAA championships. Last year, the team placed 12th, while the varsity eight was 14th, the second varsity eight was 12th and the varsity four was fifth. In 2004, the team was 11th with 16th, eighth and seventh place finishes in the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four races, respectively. The UW first competed at the NCAA championships in 1999, taking 10th as a team and 13th, 10th and sixth in the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four, respectively.
Among the teams selected are Big Ten members Ohio State and Michigan State. Minnesota earned a berth for just its varsity eight as one of the four at-large boats. Highlighting the remaining selections were No. 1 Princeton
"I think it is going to be a spectacular championship," Bryans added. "There's some newcomers there that haven't been before and a couple of veteran teams we are not seeing, so it is going to have a little bit of a different face to it. What we have learned over the course of this season is that it is about us. We are going to race our race. We are going to compete with the gusto that we've found."
