Wisconsin men’s rowing with ‘good start’ at IRA national championships

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Wisconsin men’s rowing with ‘good start’ at IRA national championships

June 02, 2017 | Men's Rowing

Goose helps Badgers to fortunate draw as three of four crews advance to semifinals

WATCH: FRIDAY REPLAY – MORNING

AFTERNOON

| SATURDAY

| SUNDAY

RESULTS | IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS INFORMATION

GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The No. 12 Wisconsin men's rowing team earned its way in putting three of its four crews into Saturday's semifinals, but also got a little help from a goose on the first day of the 2017 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships.

"I would say it is a pretty good start here," head coach Chris Clark said.

VARSITY EIGHT
Wisconsin's varsity eight, its top crew, began the day by taking fourth in a morning heat in which the top two crews advanced to the semifinals.

Harvard took the top spot by crossing the 2000-meter finish line in 5 minutes, 38.088 seconds, with Princeton second in 5:41.198. The Badgers (5:46.615) were beat out by Stanford (5:45.240) for third place.

With that result, the Badgers had to return to the course in the afternoon to race in the repechage for a second chance at the semifinals.

"In the eight, it looked bad at first getting fourth in the first heat by just a tiny bit," Clark said. "It worked out well as far as the draw with the repechage. We won going away and were able to advance to the A/B semifinal."

That is where the Canada Goose came into play. Ninth-seeded Northeastern was originally slated to be a part of the 13th-seeded Badgers' repechage heat, but the Huskies protested that a goose impeded their race and the accepted protest advanced them directly to the semifinals.

That left the Badgers with a race against FIT and Santa Clara, both seeded No. 19 or lower, and Wisconsin delivered the repechage win to grab the lone spot from its rep to the semifinals. With Northeastern's advancement, there are 13 crews in the semifinals, one more than usual.

"As I've told the guys, no matter what they do now, even if they got 13th, it is still six places better than last year, so we are well ahead and made good progress," Clark said.

"It is still such an inexperienced boat. We have five of the eight who have never been in the first eight before, and the three that had been were 19th last year, so that is hardly a resume builder.

"They are learning as they are going. I know they were pleased. We haven't been in the A/B semifinal since 2014 and that is an absolute minimum for us and so it is great to be back."

"Tomorrow will be tough."

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
"I would say the big disappointment for us was the second varsity eight," Clark stated. "They were just too slow off the line two times in a row. You can't do that at this level. Someone is going to beat you. You cannot spot somebody a length. It just does not work that way.

"Everyone else did what they should have done and what was expected."

Wisconsin was slow off the line in the morning sitting in fourth place early on behind Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth. By 1000 meters, the Badgers pushed their way past Dartmouth, but by 1500 meters, were behind leaders Harvard and Princeton by open water. That is where they finished, in third place.

Then in the afternoon repechage, the Badgers again started slow, coming out of the starting dock third behind Cornell and Oregon State. By 500 meters, the Badgers had recovered to pass OSU for second, but gave up a length to the Big Red.

Still down a length at the 1000-meter mark, the Badgers began a push that got them to within a deck at the finish line, but UW ran out of course to finish the comeback.

Cornell advanced with a 5:57.430, while UW (5:42.418) dropped into the lower-level semifinals and the best they can do now is take 13th overall.

"It is unfortunate because of the nine guys, there's four seniors so this was their last chance to do something significant as far as making a run for the medals," Clark said. "They've put in a good four years and now, at best, they are going to be in the third-level final."

THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Like the second varsity eight, the third varsity eight started off slow and were dropped by Harvard and Boston University early in the morning heat and never recovered.

However in the afternoon repechage, the Badgers got off the line quickly alongside Dartmouth, and by 500 meters grabbed the lead for good.

By the midpoint, UW had five to six seats on the Big Green and won the race by about the same distance, with both crews advancing to the semifinals. The Badgers clocked a 6:06.245, with Dartmouth second in 6:08.091.

VARSITY FOUR
UW's youthful varsity four did its job and got to the semifinals.

With just the morning heat winner advancing directly to Saturday's semifinals, the Badgers got off the line quickly and were stroke for stroke with top-ranked Washington.

The Huskies powered ahead to an easy open-water win and advanced, while the Badgers grabbed second over Harvard by a boat length.

In the afternoon repechage, UW grabbed an early lead and held that until about 1400 meters in, when Brown took over the lead. The Badgers held second the rest of the way by open water and cruised into the semfinals.

"The four came through by getting second in their repechage," Clark stated. "It was a very competitive and good race. That is a very young boat. They are all either freshmen or sophomores."

The Badgers now set their sights on the semifinals as racing resumes for UW at 10:08 a.m. (CT) with the varsity eight semifinal. Wisconsin will take on Harvard, California, Brown, Syracuse, Boston University and Northeastern in a seven-boat semifinal. The top three crews will advance to Sunday's Grand Final, while the rest of the crews will race in the petite final for places 7-13.

UW will also race its second varsity eight in the C/D Semifinals with a best-case scenario of reaching the third-level final (places 13-18). That boat goes at 11:04 a.m.

Like the varsity eight, UW's third varsity eight (11:20 a.m.) and its varsity four (Noon) will race in semifinals with a chance at making Grand Finals.

"We are pleased with the progress and looking forward to tomorrow," Clark concluded.

2017 IRA National Championships
Gold River, Calif.
Lake Natoma
June 2, 2017
2000 meters

VARSITY EIGHT
Repechage 1 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinals)
1. Wisconsin, 5:54.570; 2. FIT, 5:58.600; 3. Santa Clara, 6:03.763

Heat 4 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Harvard, 5:38.088; 2. Princeton, 5:41.198; 3. Stanford, 5:45.240; 4. Wisconsin, 5:46.615; 5. Drexel, 5:57.405; 6. St. Joseph's, 5:58.211

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
Repechage 3 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinals)
1. Cornell, 5:57.430; 2. Wisconsin, 5:58.154; 3. Oregon State, 6:11.079; 4. St. Joseph's, 6:20.983

Heat 3 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Harvard, 5:42.169; 2. Princeton, 5:42.418; 3. Wisconsin, 5:53.427; 4. Dartmouth, 5:54.441; 5. Hobart, 6:03.482; 6. FIT, 6:15.871

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

THIRD VARSITY EIGHT
Repechage 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinal)
1. Wisconsin, 6:06.245; 2. Dartmouth, 6:08.091; 3. Oregon State, 6:17.429; 4. St. Joseph's, 6:20.953; 5. Drexel, 6:28.081; 6. Santa Clara, 6:31.170

Heat 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Harvard, 5:49.514; 2. Boston University, 5:50.968; 3. Wisconsin, 6:00.956; 4. George Washington, 6:03.943; 5. Drexel, 6:24.296

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

VARSITY FOUR
Repechage 2 (Top two to Saturday semifinals, rest to lower-level semifinals)
1. Brown, 6:46.082; 2. Wisconsin, 6:49.574; 3. Colgate, 6:54.435; 4. Fairfield, 7:02.518

Heat 3 (Winner to Saturday semifinals, rest to Friday afternoon repechage)
1. Washington, 6:28.909; 2. Wisconsin, 6:38.100; 3. Harvard, 6:39.812; 4. MIT, 6:53.569; 5. Pennsylvania, 6:58.509

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