WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — Enjoying a much sunnier race day on Mercer Lake Saturday, the No. 14 Wisconsin men's rowing team advanced all four boats to the petite finals of the 2018 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships. 

Varsity Eight
The Badgers' varsity eight raced in the middle of the pack for much of the 2000-meter semifinal, finishing in fifth place to earn a spot in tomorrow's petite final with a time of 5:49.06.

No. 1 Washington, No. 5 Brown and No. 3 California grabbed the top three spots in the heat to advance to the grand final.

The Badgers will take on familiar foes from the spring campaign in the petite final (places 7-12), including No. 9 Syracuse, No. 7 Northeastern and No. 10 Stanford, in the hopes of exceeding their previous 11th-place finish from 2017. 

Wisconsin returns to the water at 7:05 a.m. CT for the petite finals. The Badgers will race in lane five.

Second Varsity Eight
After winning its afternoon repechage heat yesterday, Wisconsin's second varsity eight struggled in its semifinal this morning. Falling behind early in the heat, the Badgers failed to regain their rhythm, finishing in sixth place with a time of 6:01.01.

Despite missing out on a spot in the grand final, however, the Badgers earned a place in the petite final with a chance to place seventh through 12th tomorrow morning.

Wisconsin's race is set to begin at 7:19 a.m. CT, with the Badgers racing in lane seven.

Third Varsity Eight
The Badgers' young third varsity eight showed promise in a tightly-matched semifinal, despite coming in fifth with a time of 5:57.61. Wisconsin's boat finished within seven seconds of first-place finisher Washington.

Along with the Huskies, Northeastern and California grabbed top-three finishes to move on to Sunday's grand final, while the Badgers earned a spot in the petite final.

The Badgers will race in the fourth lane of the petite final, which is slated for a 7:26 a.m. CT start.

Varsity Four
The Badgers' varsity four opened its semifinal race in a four-way battle for first before falling behind top qualifiers Washington, California and Princeton in the latter half of the race.

In a battle for fifth place with Northeastern, Wisconsin pulled ahead to beat out the Huskies with a time of 6:43.91.

The Badgers will return to the course for Sunday's petite final at 8:43 a.m. CT.

Up Next: The Badgers' IRA National Championships' run wraps up tomorrow morning with the petite finals. Due to impending weather, the finals schedule has been inverted and consolidated to avoid poor course conditions. For an updated schedule of Sunday's times and events, click here.

Straight from the Lake
Head coach Chris Clark
On today's performance:
"I felt that our performances in the four A/B semis were pretty representative of who we are. I would say that, of the four boats, only one had a sub-par go, and that was the 2V. They ended up in sixth and you could tell, they were off the mark. I'm certain they'll be significantly better tomorrow. They were the ones who were disappointed.

"The 1V felt pretty good. I wish they could have moved up one place but they were fifth. They were ahead of Stanford which they were happy about, at least for now because they lost to them earlier in the year."

"The 3V just keeps getting better as it goes. It has four freshmen in it, two kids who weren't recruited at all, and two novices. It's a young group. They're really having a good time. Anything can happen with them tomorrow."

"The V4, their side of the semi was significantly harder than the other semi. They ended up fifth, but still, my projection was what happened. We're definitely the upper half, the upper tier, but we're not quite elite speed in any boat yet. We're still satisfied in the sense that this a place to build from, and I haven't felt that across the board in a long, long time. I'm happy about that."

On tomorrow's racing:
"Hopefully tomorrow, they'll all close it out with a race that they can be happy with. Too often the disappointment comes not from the actual result, it comes from when you realized you haven't performed to either your best or near it. I like to put it in terms of scoring on an exam. Everybody wants to be over 90 in these big races, but you drop a 75 or even an 80, and it's not good enough. That's where the disappointment comes from. Hopefully tomorrow, everybody can get a strong result and effort in the mid-90's. Who knows, maybe even 100. You never know."

2018 IRA National Championships
West Windsor, N.J.
Mercer Lake
June 2
2000 meters

VARSITY EIGHT
Semifinal 1 (Winner to Sunday Grand Final, rest to petite final)
1. Washington, 5:37.12; 2. Brown, 5:38.88; 3. California, 5:39.06; 4. Northeastern, 5:46.24; 5. Wisconsin, 5:49.06; 6. Stanford, 5:52.17

UW Lineup: Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Nickolas Montalvo, William Alt, Jonah Van der Weide, Andrew Griffin, Dylan Adams, Tristan Amberger, Alexander Butler, Thomas Walker

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Semifinal 2 (Winner to Sunday Grand Final, rest to petite final)
1. Yale, 5:48.18; 2. Harvard, 5:51.29; 3. Northeastern, 5:52.05; 4. Dartmouth, 5:55.64; 5. Boston University, 5:57.27; 6. Wisconsin, 6:01.01

UW Lineup: Coxswain Cameron Pak, John Hollow, Philipp Bogdanov, Kurt Mueller, James Bernard, Kyle McCarthy, Nathan Petersen, Tyler Stevens, Jacob Wenner

THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Semifinal 1 (Winner to Sunday Grand Final, rest to petite final)
1. Washington, 5:50.15; 2. Northeastern, 5:52.50; 3. California, 5:53.02; 4. Princeton, 5:54.94; 5. Wisconsin, 5:57.61; 6. Brown, 5:59.86

UW Lineup: Coxswain Kaz Kishiue-Koval, Matthew Palmer, John Young, Adam Wehking, Will Klauke, Tim Zogleman, Luke VandenHeuvel, Evan Miller, Chase Covey

VARSITY FOUR
Semifinal 2 (Winner to Sunday Grand Final, rest to petite final)
1. Washington, 6:26.01; 2. California, 6:27.94; 3. Princeton, 6:36.06; 4. Harvard, 6:36.11; 5. Wisconsin, 6:43.91; 6. Northeastern, 6:46.76

UW Lineup: Coxswain Ian Tunney, Parker Brooks, Samuel Wheeler, Andrew Flannery, Tyler Bernstein