Varsity four reaches NCAA semifinals
May 29, 2009 | Women's Rowing
Wisconsin women's crew completed the first day of the 2009 NCAA Rowing Championships after sending its varsity four into Saturday semifinal action and its varsity eight and second varsity eight boats into Third Level Finals on Sunday. Racing took place on the Cooper River.
Under overcast skies Friday morning, UW's varsity four reached Saturday 's semifinals by taking third in its heat. The Badgers jumped off the line among the leaders and stayed within striking distance of the lead over the entire 2000 meters. When the Badgers crossed the line, 7:32.57 elapsed and the UW was in the finals. Ohio State took the heat in 7:29.05, followed by Clemson's 7:30.49 in second place. USC (7:39.21) and Oregon State (7:41.72) rounded out the heat.
'The four did a great job of getting through,' said head coach Bebe Bryans. 'They are the newest boat as far as the combination goes. They are still finding their speed and we are pretty confident they are going to continue to get faster.
'It is a matter of evolution. We have a freshman in the boat now that wasn 't in the boat before. Every day they have on the water they get faster. She was able to come in and make the boat a little bit faster than they were before. Briana Pittman, who is now in the three seat and who has been in and out of the first four all season. I think she found a little bit more consistency and the boat clicks. That is half the battle in the four. I think they are pretty confident and they've got pretty good speed at a low rate so if they can bring that up tomorrow, I think they'll be in good shape.'
In the first race of the day for Wisconsin, the varsity eight placed fifth in its heat and was relegated to the seven-team afternoon repechage. In a tight repechage, the Badgers finished outside the top three and will therefore race in Sunday's Third Level Final.
In the varsity eight heat, Wisconsin started quickly off the line like most of the crews, racing the first 500 meters in 1:36.60, but by 1000 meters was behind by open water on the top three. In fourth place at the midpoint, the Badgers appeared to ease off over the final 1000 meters and took fifth in the heat.
California won the heat in 6:29.40, while Brown (6:32.80) and Michigan State (6:40.40) completed the top three spots and grabbed the semifinal positions.
In the repechage, Wisconsin was behind the top three by open water at the midpoint of the race and finished just over seven seconds behind the three semifinal qualifiers. Ohio State (6:21.006), Michigan (6:21.27) and USC (6:21.42) placed in the top three to advance to the semifinals, while the Badgers' time of 6:28.66 was good for seventh, less than .2 seconds behind sixth-place Oregon State.
'I think the morning started out a little bit rough,' Bryans said. 'The varsity eight really did not have a good race and that was disappointing for everybody. They just never found their speed from about 400 meters on and that cost them a lot through the course of the day. They came back in the afternoon and gave it a good go. It was actually the fastest time they laid down this year, so that was good, but it wasn 't nearly as good as we were hoping for. You can't be disappointed with the fastest time laid down. We'll you can be and we were a little, but there were good things to be said about that.'
In the second varsity eight, the crew battled in the morning heats the entire 2000 meters down the course and after sitting in fourth for the first 1000 meters, took over third over the third 500 meters, but was passed by Michigan down the stretch and took fourth.
Brown won the heat in 6:42.96, followed by Michigan State's 6:44.21 and Michigan's 6:44.61.
The afternoon repechage saw the Badgers finish sixth in a hotly contested race. Wisconsin started quickly and hit 1000 meters in second place, but was passed by over the final half of the race. Princeton won the repechage in 6:35.35, with USC in 6:36.03 and Clemson in 6:37.50 taking the three semifinal spots. Wisconsin clocked a 6:40.64 for its sixth-place finish.
'As far as the 2V goes, they've been struggling with consistency all year, but again I think they raced really well,' added Bryans. 'Putting together a 2000 meter race is tough and we've not been able to do that with consistency this year and I think it came back to bite them a little bit today. Again, it was probably the best set of races they've had all year, but it wasn't enough.'
Racing resumes on Saturday for the Badgers when the varsity four takes part in the second semifinal at 10:15 a.m., ET. The varsity eight and second varsity eight will race again Sunday.
Follow along the rest of the weekend's NCAA action with the code=ncaa"> --> online video stream at NCAA.com . Live stats are also available ( mobile stats ). In addition, look for updates at twitter.com/BadgerRowing .
