UW Eighth at NCAA Rowing
May 28, 2006 | Women's Rowing
Wisconsin placed eighth at the 2006 NCAA Rowing Championships, earning the team 's highest finish in program history. The Badgers posted a solid performance on the final day as the second varsity eight took third and the varsity four placed second in the petite final. Racing took place on Mercer Lake in West Windor, N.J.
The UW second varsity eight earned the highest NCAA finish in Wisconsin history, winning bronze with a 6:54.666 over 2000 meters. Brown won the race with a 6:48.768. California won silver, edging the Badgers by .290 seconds in 6:54.376. Meghan Bradshaw led the crew as coxswain, with Bryana Seifert, Shayla Dvorak, Lindsay Bush, Katie Helmrick, Maggie Galloway, Susan Masterson, Kim Ackerbauer and Stephanie Koepp rowing the boat to 20 points in the team competition.
Prior to this year's second eight performance, the 2005 varsity four's fifth place finish marked the highest boat placement at an NCAA championships.
'Our 2V just went after it like they did yesterday from the very first stroke and were able to hold second place almost to the end,' said head coach Bebe Bryans. 'They got passed with about three or four strokes to go, but they were sprinting for their lives. They had the race of their lives.'
This year, the UW varsity four placed second in the petite final, and eight overall, with a time of 7:53.418. Princeton won the petite final in 7:49.343 to place seventh overall, while Brown won the event with a grand final victory. The UW's eighth place added five points to the UW team total.
In the team competition, Wisconsin totaled 28 points with its 20 from the second varsity eight, five from the varsity four and three points Saturday from the varsity eight. The total was the highest in school history, bettering the 19 points the 2003-04 squad posted in an 11th-place result. The placement edged the Badgers' 10th-place finish in 1999.
'There were some very exciting things that went on today, ' Bryans added. 'First of all we finished eighth as a team, which is the highest we've ever finished. Second of all our four raced their brains out in the petite final and ended up eighth so they got to stand up on the awards platform and receive NCAA plaques for that.'
California won this year's national championship with 66 points and a second place result in the varsity eight. Brown, also with 66 points, finished second overall because of its third-place result in the varsity eight, the tie-breaking event. Varsity eight champion Princeton rounded out the top three places. Among Big Ten crews, Ohio State took fifth and Michigan State took sixth.
Bryans concluded, 'It was a great team effort. It was a great weekend for Wisconsin. I think the most exciting thing is that we had so many underclassman here that can't wait to get started training again and we had seniors who were very proud of the way they were able to finish off their careers. It was a great weekend and we feel we accomplished what we could.'
