June 2, 2011
Full Results | Friday Race Schedule 
MADISON, Wis. - Though not considered the favorite for the varsity eight national championship, the Wisconsin men's rowing team opened the 2011 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships by comfortably advancing to Friday's semifinals in that race, as well as two of the other four events, as the first day reached a conclusion. Racing is taking place on the Cooper River in Camden and Cherry Hill, N.J.
“Day one complete," said Head Coach Chris Clark. "Long day. They always are.
“It was about as windy as I’ve ever seen it here this time of year. Probably in the afternoon, gusting at least 25 to 30 from the west, northwest which is either a tail or cross tail, which made for some good times."
Wisconsin's varsity eight, which looks to reach the grand final (top six) at IRAs for the first time since winning the national title in 2008, took the first step on Thursday by placing second in heat two and advancing directly to Friday's semifinal action. The Badgers kept contact with heat-winner California the entire 2000 meters and crossed the finish in 5:30.706 to grab one of the two advancing spots. Cal won the heat about two seconds sooner than the UW in 5:28.770. Over six seconds and open water separated the Badgers from third-place Navy (5:36.829). Boston University, Georgetown and UC-San Diego rounded out places four through six in the heat.
The varsity eight already guarantees itself improvement over the team's 2010 result as the boat failed to reach the semifinals last year and placed 15th overall. By making the semifinals, Wisconsin is assured a top-12 finish this time around.
The Badgers will race in the second semifinal on Friday, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CT, against Yale, Harvard, Washington, Stanford and Georgetown. Top three advance to Saturday's grand final.
The Badgers' second varsity eight put itself in a similar position and in similar style. Wisconsin again finished second behind California to advance to Friday semifinals. The Golden Bears won heat three in 5:39.173, with the Badgers second in 5:42.827. Both crews outdistanced themselves from the rest of the field as third-place Cornell finished nearly 10 seconds back in 5:52.103. Navy (6:03.573) and Gonzaga (6:19.855) rounded out the heat finishers.
"The first eight and the second eight did well," said Clark. "I thought they had some opportunities to win their heat, but the first two in each heat advanced to semifinals tomorrow, which they did and that’s the ultimate objective and we move from there.
"Both were just a little too conservative. In those races, I think they were surprised with the ease. Both have some good natural speed, and moving quickly is not difficult for them. That could be a bit of a surprise. Neither one capitalized on it, exactly, but nonetheless, they are where they need to be. Tomorrow, hopefully we can crank it up another gear."
Wisconsin also took the direct route in reaching the varsity four semifinals. The Badgers won heat four in 6:21.056, edging Navy's time of 6:22.446. The top two crews in each of the four varsity four heats advanced directly to Friday's semifinals, while the rest raced in afternoon repechages for a second chance at advancing.
"The varsity four did well," Clark said. "They won their heat. They got the lead and they kept it, which is the objective, and they advanced to tomorrow."
The repechage is the route the open four and freshman eight were forced to take after finishing outside the direct semifinal qualifying positions in the morning.
The open four placed second in heat one behind Washington's time of 6:19.227, but only the heat winners in the event advanced, and that was directly to Saturday's grand finals. The remaining crews race again Friday in the repechage for a second chance at reaching the open four national title race. Wisconsin did place second in 6:21.777, with Navy (6:33.910), California (6:39.398) and Pennsylvania (6:44.627) distant finishers in the heat.
"The open four, the tougher of the two four events, no question about that, and we led Washington for a bit, and Washington won," explained Clark. "I am confident in them. They looked good and they should hopefully make the grand final tomorrow."
Finally, the freshman eight placed third in heat one in the morning, trailing Princeton (5:36.457) and Washington (5:41.142), to fall short of the two direct qualifying spots for the semifinals. The Badgers put in a time of 5:58.142, outpacing fourth-place Gonzaga (6:00.438), fifth-place Penn (6:03.343) and sixth-place Yale (6:47.841), who ran into mechanical problems during the race.
The freshman eight returned to the water in the afternoon for a repechage heat, but again fell one spot out of advancing to Friday's semifinals, placing fourth in 5:58.227. Boston University won the repechage in 5:44.476, while Columbia (5:46.667) and Dartmouth (5:47.638) knocked the Badgers (5:50.891) out of the picture.
"The freshmen were the only disappointment," Clark lamented. "This is a class loaded with future varsity oarsmen, at least I hope so. Six of the eight are novices. They had a few decent races this year, but they never gelled like they probably should have. Their component parts are better than the product as far as rowing at this point.
"They are lacking top speed, which is a minimum requirement for at least advancing to the top 12. They don’t look bad, they are just not too quick. We’ll see what they can do on Saturday. They will hopefully put it together a little bit and do a little better. The best they can do is 13th. There’s a lot of them and they have some talent, so we’ll work with them."
The second day of the 2011 IRA National Championships begin Friday at 7:30 a.m. CT with the first heat of the women's lightweight eights. Watch all the racing live at http://crew.princeton.edu/content/live_video.
"Should be similar conditions tomorrow, and some fast times," concluded Clark. "I don’t think as windy as today, which was pretty disruptive. Anyway, we move on."
2011 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships
Cooper River
Camden/Cherry Hill, N.J.
2000 meters
June 2, 2011
Varsity Eight
Heat 2 (Top two to Friday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:28.770; 2. Wisconsin, 5:30.706; 3. Navy, 5:36.829; 4. Boston University, 5:38.907; 5. Georgetown, 5:50.077; 6. UC- San Diego, 6:03.243
UW Lineup: Coxswain Anthony Altimari, Andrew Gallagher, Michael Kaufman, Tim Aghai, Luke Juckett, Daniel Gengler, Dan Agostinacchio, Cody Rissman, Sam Hoidal
Second Varsity Eight
Heat 3 (Top three to Friday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. California, 5:39.173; 2. Wisconsin, 5:42.827; 3. Cornell, 5:52.103; 4. Navy, 6:03.573; 5. Gonzaga, 6:19.855
UW Lineup: Coxswain Michael Patinkin, Dave Lucas, Christopher Stiles, Daniel Moore, Zach Rodenbough, Matthew Hinkamp, Liam Saunders, Ryan Thompson, Ben Ruble
Freshman Eight
Repechage 2 (Top three to Friday semifinals, rest to Saturday third level final)
1. Boston University, 5:44.476; 2. Columbia, 5:46.667; 3. Dartmouth, 5:47.638; 4. Wisconsin, 5:50.891; 5. Syracuse, 5:55.349; 6. Pennsylvania, 6:01.784.
Heat 1 (Top two to Friday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Princeton, 5:36.457; 2. Washington, 5:41.142; 3. Wisconsin, 5:58.227; 4. Gonzaga, 6:00.438; 5. Pennsylvania, 6:03.343; 6. Yale, 6:57.841
UW Lineup: Coxswain Leonard Manning, Travis Breunig, Chase Tarrier, Matt Sobotka, Vince Bertram, Kevin Ripley, Logan Hietpas, Matt Bakken, Michael Lindberg
Open Four
Heat 1 (Winner to Saturday grand final, rest to Friday repechage)
1. Washington, 6:19.227; 2. Wisconsin, 6:21.777; 3. Navy, 6:33.910; 4. California, 6:39.398; 5. Pennsylvania, 6:44.627
UW Lineup: Christopher Lawrence, Steve Dudek, Connor Cahill, John Schoback, Alec Schlemmer
Varsity Four
Heat 4 (Top two to Friday semifinals, rest to afternoon repechage)
1. Wisconsin, 6:21.056; 2. Navy, 6:22.446; 3. Hobart, 6:26.041; 4. Yale, 6:31.151
UW Lineup: Eric Rhiel, Jack Yeksigian, Will Porter, Brad Betts, Lowell McNicholas
FRIDAY BADGER RACES
Varsity Eight Semifinal 2 (Top three to grand final)
Yale, Wisconsin, Harvard, Washington, Stanford, Georgetown
Second Varsity Eight Semifinal 2 (Top three to grand final)
Yale, Pennsylvania, Brown, Harvard, Wisconsin, Dartmouth, Princeton
Varsity Four Semifinal 1 (Top three to grand final)
Georgetown, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Washington, Drexel, Temple
Open Four Repechage 1 (Top two to grand final)
California, Wisconsin, Yale, Pennsylvania
Freshman Eight Third Level Final (Saturday)
Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Yale, Gonzaga
