MSU Crew Finishes Season At NCAA Championship
5/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 30, 2004
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.- - Michigan State rowing closed out the season amongst top crews from around the nation at the NCAA Championship on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif., on Sunday. As a team, the Spartans earned 18 points, good for a 12th-place finish overall.
Brown earned 70 team points to claim the NCAA Championship title for the fourth time, making the Bears the winningest crew program at nationals. Three-time national champion Washington finished fifth with 43 team points, while defending champion Harvard came in 10th with 24 points. Brown's highlight race was a victory in the varsity eight grand final, in which they posted 6:32.90 to win the event.
"They raced really well both yesterday and today," said MSU head coach Bebe Bryans of her team. "I do not think that anyone could look back on any part of the race and wish to have done it differently. All of our boats had the pieces that they were looking for and that is really all you can ask for."
Both the Spartan varsity four and State's second varsity eight qualified for petite finals and finished second and fifth in their respective races on Sunday. The Green and White varsity eight concluded competition on Saturday with a first- place finish in the "C" final that was good for 13th overall.
Michigan State's varsity four posted a solid performance in its petite final, maintaining a split between 1:49.02 and 1:55.78 throughout the race. The Spartans crossed the finish line in 7:34.20 to take second place (eighth overall), just two seconds behind Wisconsin's 7:32.50. Michigan (7:37.70) came in third, followed by Princeton (7:39.50), Washington State (7:41.10) and Harvard (7:46.40).
The second Spartan varsity eight posted a 6:54.40 finish time with a performance that was good for fifth place (11th overall) behind Princeton, who squeaked ahead to post 6:54.00 across the line. The top three finishers were Virginia (6:48.80), Wisconsin (6:51.00) and Harvard (6:53.70). Ohio State came in sixth at 6:55.10.
"They stepped up and they raced," said Bryans of the Spartans "They pushed themselves and really raced. They raced as hard and as well as they could. What more could you ask for?"
Bryans added that she would like to thank her seniors for a wonderful season.
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Brown 70
2. Yale 58
3. Michigan 52
4. California 51
5. Washington 43
6. Princeton* 36
7. Virginia 36
8. Ohio State 33
9. Washington State 28
10. Harvard 24
11. Wisconsin 19
12. Michigan State 18
* won tiebreaker based on first varsity eight finish
Results: Sunday, May 30
First Varsity EightGrand Final 1. Brown 6:32.9 -- 36 points 2. Yale 6:43.6 -- 33 points 3. Michigan 6:37.1 -- 30 points 4. Princeton 6:37.7 -- 27 points 5. Ohio State 6:38.9 -- 24 points 6. California 6:40.1 -- 21 points
Petite Final 1. Washington 6:37.8 -- 18 points 2. Harvard 6:38.4 -- 15 points 3. Virginia 6:38.6 -- 12 points 4. Tennessee 6:41.1 5. Notre Dame 6:44.0 6. Southern California 6:44.1
C Final (Saturday) 1. Michigan State 6:47.0 -- 9 points 2. Washington State 6:50.5 -- 6 points 3. Texas 6:51.2 4. Wisconsin 6:52.8 -- 3 points
Second Varsity EightGrand Final 1. Brown 6:44.1 -- 24 points 2. California 6:46.8 -- 22 points 3. Washington State 6:47.0 -- 20 points 4. Michigan 6:47.2 -- 18 points 5. Yale 6:50.4 -- 16 points 6. Washington 6:50.41-- 14 points
Petite Final 1. Virginia 6:48.8 -- 12 points 2. Wisconsin 6:51.0 -- 10 points 3. Harvard 6:53.7 -- 8 points 4. Princeton 6:54.0 -- 6 points 5. Michigan State 6:54.4 -- 4 points 6. Ohio State 6:55.1 -- 2 points
First Varsity FourGrand Final 1. Virginia 7:27.5 -- 12 points 2. Washington 7:30.8 -- 11 points 3. Brown 7:32.2 -- 10 points 4. Yale 7:34.4 -- 9 points 5. California 7:39.3 -- 8 points 6. Ohio State 7:39.9 -- 7 points
Petite Final 1. Wisconsin 7:32.5 -- 6 points 2. Michigan State 7:34.2 -- 5 points 3. Michigan 7:37.7 -- 4 points 4. Princeton 7:32.5 -- 3 points 5. Washington State 7:41.1 -- 2 points 6. Harvard 7:46.4 -- 1 point