MADISON, Wis. – The second day of the 2016 NCAA Rowing Championships finished up Saturday on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California, with all three Wisconsin women's rowing boats on their way to Sunday's petite finals.

On Saturday, all three boats competed in A/B Semifinals, but each fell short of the top three positions needed to reach Sunday grand finals.

"Today went really well for us," head coach Bebe Bryans remarked. "I think we were pretty gassed after racing hard in the reps yesterday afternoon and it was pretty hot. I think the combination of those things played a part in our finishes today.

"The racing was good. The rowing was good, but we just didn't have enough speed to make it into the top groups."

The varsity eight was first up, and was in the race for the first 1000 meters, but the top four boats slowly put some distance between themselves and the Badgers. When the boats crossed the line, it was California (6:19.800), Ohio State (6:21.548) and Virginia (6:21.968) grabbing the three spots for Sunday's grand final. Michigan (6:23.443), Wisconsin (6:28.884) and Syracuse (6:42.162) dropped into Sunday's petite final for places 7-12.

The second varsity eight was sixth in its semifinal with a time of 6:41.057, just under four seconds back of fifth-place Michigan. Ohio State won the semifinal in 6:21.901, with Texas (6:25.035) and Virginia (6:25.896) taking the remaining two spots in the grand final.

In the varsity four, the Badgers crossed the 2000-meter finish line in 7:26.591 to take fifth ahead of sixth-place Indiana (7:32.670). Virginia won the semifinal in 7:12.272 and advances to Sunday's grand final along with second-place Ohio State (7:13.784) and third-place Stanford (7:14.008).

The Badgers will open up racing on Sunday at Noon CT with the petite final of the varsity four. Yale, Texas, Princeton, Indiana and Brown will also take part in the race.

At 12:24, UW's second varsity eight takes on Brown, Yale, Michigan, Stanford and Washington State.

Finally at 12:48, the Badgers will battle Texas, Michigan, Southern California, Washington and Syracuse in the varsity eight petite final. The Badgers are racing for their third top-10 varsity eight finish in school history.  

"One thing we know for sure is that we are going to be ready to go," Bryans said. "We are looking forward to really throwing down tomorrow and seeing if we can beat our seeds. Seeing if we can get some wins in the petite finals.

"We couldn't ask for a better group and a better set of races. I think tomorrow is going to be awesome."

2016 NCAA Rowing Championships
Lake Natoma
Gold River, Calif.
May 28, 2016
2000 meters

Varsity Eight
A/B Semifinal (Top three to Sunday grand final, rest to petite final)
1. California, 6:19.800; 2. Ohio State, 6:21.548; 3. Virginia, 6:21.968; 4. Michigan, 6:23.443; 5. Wisconsin, 6:28.884; 6. Syracuse, 6:42.162
UW Lineup – Coxswain Lily Hansen, Maria Schmid, Hannah Schwartz, Anna Knutson, Lexi Siverling, Maddie Wanamaker, Gillian Cooper, Brianna Dahm, Kaitlin McKeogh

Second Varsity Eight
A/B Semifinal (Top three to Sunday grand final, rest to petite final)
1. Ohio State, 6:21.901; 2. Texas, 6:25.035; 3. Virginia, 6:25.896; 4. Brown, 6:30.923; 5. Michigan, 6:37.467; 6. Wisconsin, 6:41.057
UW Lineup – Coxswain Katherine Condon, Gabby Simons, Dani Steinberg, Sophia Vitas, Megan Whitehouse, Callie Hebert, Margo Grover, Marissa Gibson, Andrea French

Varsity Four
A/B Semifinal (Top three to Sunday grand final, rest to petite final)
1. Virginia, 7:12.272; 2. Ohio State, 7:13.784; 3. Stanford, 7:14.008; 4. Yale, 7:15.435; 5. Wisconsin, 7:26.591; 6. Indiana, 7:32.670
UW Lineup – Coxswain Rosie Brezynski, Maren Schultz, Morganne Freeman, Claire Scott, Monica Gerber