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RESULTS  |  IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS INFORMATION

GOLD RIVER, Calif. ­­­­– Led by its varsity eight, which improved eight spots from last year, the Wisconsin men's rowing team wrapped up the 2017 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships on Sunday at Lake Natoma.

Wisconsin's top boat placed fifth in the seven-boat petite final to grab 11th overall after taking 19th at last season's national championships.

"I hereby declare that we are back to normal," head coach Chris Clark stated. "Normal doesn't mean we are satisfied with finishing 11th in the varsity eight, but that is a reasonable finish considering where we've been the last few years. We were a good 18 seconds faster in the first eight than we were last year, and eight places better. That is an excellent start."

In the remaining three events, the Badgers would up 13th in the second varsity eight after a third-level final win, ninth in the third varsity eight, and 10th in the varsity four.

VARSITY EIGHT
Wisconsin's varsity eight, seeded No. 13 heading into the championships, wound up with an 11th-place finish overall by claiming fifth place in the petite final.

The Badgers started strong, sitting in third place at 900 meters. Northeastern led, with Dartmouth behind the Huskies. UW held a few seats over Syracuse at that point.

The Orange passed by the Badgers at some point around 1000 meters, then No. 6 Boston University found itself passing Wisconsin.

That is where the Badgers would hold the rest of the way, beating out Cornell and Pennsylvania for fifth place.

Northeastern won the petite final and took seventh overall with a time of 5 minutes, 36.576 seconds for 2000 meters, while the Badgers clocked a 5:41.504 for their finishing time.

The 11th-place result for Wisconsin is an eight-spot improvement from the 2016 IRAs and marks the top UW finish since the 2014 varsity eight also placed 11th.
"We've got everybody returning, but one," Clark said. "For now, we decided to get out of our own way and raced to our what our strength, our technique and our experience would show us.

"With five new guys in the first eight, these guys absolutely hit their max for the entire year in their last race of the year.

"In this highly international sport, it is extremely competitive and the smallest things matter.

Yale captured the varsity eight title, edging favorite Washington, for its first IRA varsity eight title in school history. The win was the first for a crew other than Washington or California since 2008, when the Badgers won the crown.

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Racing in the third-level final, the Badgers grabbed the lead early and never looked back for the win and 13th place overall.

UW put themselves out in front of the field by 500 meters and went up by a length by 1000 meters. From there, the Badgers mostly held, as Navy made a late charge to nip Syracuse at the finish line by less than .03 seconds.

Wisconsin finished in 5:51.173, with Navy (5:52.268) and Syracuse (5:52.293) finishing out the top three in the third-level final.

"They had screwed up early on, but they really performed well (today)," Clark said. "They had the sixth fastest time of all the second varsities by the end."

THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Wisconsin grabbed ninth overall in the third varsity eight by taking third in the petite final. The Badgers already had third place by 500 meters, with Boston University and Northeastern ahead.

By 1350, BU led by eight seats, while Northeastern held the same lead over the Badgers. UW had about a half length on Dartmouth.

That would be the finishing order, with BU clocking 5:52.883 and Northeastern 3-4 seats back in 5:54.189. Wisconsin also went under six minutes with a final time of 5:58.587. Dartmouth was fourth in 6:00.121. Cornell (6:00.739) and Syracuse (6:01.444) rounded out the finishes.

VARSITY FOUR
In the varsity four petite final, all six crews got off the line well, and at 500 meters in, Harvard, Navy, Marist and Wisconsin all overlapped, with Dartmouth fifth, but overlapping the fourth-place Badgers.

Harvard eased away over the middle 1000, leading Navy by a deck at 1500 meters, with Marist two seats behind Navy. The Badgers were down by open water on the top-three crews.

Harvard went on to grab the victory in 6:34.277, with Navy second in 6:36.482 and Marist third in 6:41.890. The Badgers took fourth in the race in 6:46.591 to take 10th place overall.

"The four, it was kind of who they were," Clark stated. "Young guys again, they got 10th. A real competitive event with 24 entries. I thought they did well. As well as they were going to be with that kind of experience level."

TEAM COMPETITION
The Badgers ended up 11th in the team competition for the Ten Eyck Trophy. UW claimed 94 points.

Washington won the team title with 211 points, tying the Badgers for the all-time lead with its 14th Ten Eyck Trophy.

"Excited," Clark remarked "Back to 'normal.' Normal, again, means you can look at their power, their technique and their experience level and make a pretty darn accurate prediction of where they will finish. That has been impossible the last few years due to all sorts of factors.

"We are happy and happy to build on that for next year."
 
2017 IRA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Gold River, Calif.
Lake Natoma
June 4, 2017
2000 meters

TEN EYCK TROPHY STANDINGS (TEAM POINTS)
1. Washington, 211; 2. Yale, 195; 3. Harvard, 187; 4. California, 186; 5. Princeton, 181; 6. Brown, 131; 7. Boston University, 127; 8. Northeastern, 125; 9. Dartmouth, 117; 10. Cornell, 95; 11. WISCONSIN, 94; 12. Syracuse, 92; 13. Navy, 74; 14. Pennsylvania, 74; 15. George Washington, 65; 16. Stanford, 37; 17. Columbia, 22; 18. Oregon State, 15; 19. St. Joseph's, 6; 20. FIT, 5; 21. Drexel, 3; 22t. Santa Clara, UC San Diego, 0

VARSITY EIGHT
Petite Final (Places 7-13)
1. Northeastern, 5:36.576; 2. Syracuse, 5:38.592; 3. Dartmouth, 5:39.182; 4. Boston University, 5:39.855; 5. Wisconsin, 5:41.504; 6. Cornell, 5:41.914; 7. Pennsylvania, 5:42.569

UW Lineup – Coxswain James Roen, Nickolas Montalvo, Laing Wise, Andrew Griffin, Jonah Van der Weide, Tristan Amberger, James Bernard, Kyle McCarthy, Thomas Walker

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Third-level Final (Places 13-18)
1. Wisconsin, 5:51.173; 2. Navy, 5:52.268; 3. Syracuse, 5:52.293; 4. Columbia, 5:56.445; 5. Stanford, 5:56.566; 6. Hobart, 6:03.126

UW Lineup – Coxswain Michael Callahan, John Hollow, Alexander Butler, Nathan Petersen, Sam Weeks, Andrew Flannery, James Lueken, Alex Idarraga, Erik Kernozek

THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Boston University, 5:52.883; 2. Northeastern, 5:54.189; 3. Wisconsin, 5:58.587; 4. Dartmouth, 6:00.121; 5. Cornell, 6:00.739; 6. Syracuse, 6:01.444

UW Lineup – Coxswain Andrew Hamilton, Taylor Steeno, Tyler Stevens, William Alt, Dylan Adams, Kurt Mueller, Zach Ruedinger, Christoph Bub, Jacob Wenner

VARSITY FOUR
Petite Final (Places 7-12)
1. Harvard, 6:34.277; 2. Navy, 6:36.481; 3. Marist, 6:41.890; 4. Wisconsin, 6:46.591; 5. MIT, 6:47.503; 6. Dartmouth, 6:47.676

UW Lineup - Coxswain Theodore Van Beek, Cole Reavill, Evan Miller, Chase Covey, Tim Zogleman