Women Reach Four Finals at NCAA Regional
May 17, 2008 | Women's Rowing
Four of the Wisconsin women's openweight rowing team's five boats are still alive for titles after the first day of the 2008 NCAA Central/South Regional on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Badgers' first-day results keep the squad in position for their fourth NCAA bid in five seasons.
The Badgers qualified two of its three NCAA boats to grand finals, as its varsity eight and second varsity eight reached their respective races for the top-six. The UW's varsity four finished fourth in its semifinal, one spot short of putting all three NCAA boats in grand finals.
'We had a really good day, start to finish," said head coach Bebe Bryans. "Everybody raced really well. We are really pleased. I think our speed is coming out. We are doing what needs to be done."
Only two schools - Virginia and Michigan State - qualified all three boats into grand finals, while Wisconsin and Tennessee join the Cavaliers and Spartans as the only schools to qualify both their NCAA eights to grand finals. Michigan, Ohio State and Clemson also qualified two boats to grand finals, but all three missed on one of the two eights.
In the varsity eight, the Badgers took third in the first semifinal in 6:38.05, within striking distance of 13th-ranked Michigan (6:26.10) and fifth-ranked Michigan State (6:36.65). The unranked Badgers beat No. 18 Notre Dame for the final spot in the Grand Final.
Earlier in the day, Wisconsin finished second in its varsity eight heat, behind No. 9 Virginia and ahead of No. 17 Clemson.
"The varsity eight just raced a great semifinal to make it into the grand final," explained Bryans. "We haven't been able to do that in a couple of years. We are really pleased about that. They are still learning so we are looking forward to being able to do a little more tomorrow.Hopefully that will move us up in the rankings even more."
The second varsity eight also placed third in its semfinal heat to reach the grand final. After winning its morning heat, the Big Ten-champion Badgers clocked a 6:48.31 for their spot. Ohio State took the semifinal in 6:43.20, with Notre Dame second in 6:47.12. Minnesota was the first team out with its time of 6:53.86 in fourth place.
Wisconsin's varsity four fell just over two seconds short of giving the team all three of its NCAA boats in the grand final. Virginia won the UW's semifinal in 7:35.50, followed by Minnesota in 7:40.00 and Michigan in 7:40.65. The UW's time of 7:42.84 was good for fourth in the semifinal.
"The varsity four was a little disappointed to just barely miss out on making the grand final, but they had a great race and they rowed their hearts out," Bryans said. "That is all we ask of them.
"They are looking forward to blowing it out in the petite final tomorrow and seeing if they can win that and score as many points as possible."
Badger boats in the open four and novice eight both qualified for grand finals. The open four took second in its semifinal with a 7:39.29, under a second behind winner Ohio State. Michigan was third in 7:48.16.
As for the Big Ten-champion novice eight, they won their morning heat and advanced directly to Sunday's grand final in the event.
"We feel we have our own destiny in our hands, as far as NCAAs go," concluded Bryans. "If we are fast enough and are strong enough, we think we can earn the right to be selected tomorrow. We are in position to able to do that."
The 12-team field for the 2008 NCAA Rowing Championships, held May 30-June 1 in Sacramento, Calif., will be announced Tuesday at NCAA.com at 3 p.m. CT. An additional four varsity eights will be added to the field as at-large boats.
