Michigan State University
South/Central Regional Sprints
Two Spartan Eights Advance To South/Central Regional Grand Final
5/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 13, 2007
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The Michigan State rowing team placed its second varsity eight and novice eight into Sunday's grand final of the Aramark South/Central Regional by finishing in the top three of Saturday's semifinals. The Spartan varsity eight and varsity four will race in the petite final on Sunday.
After winning the morning heat by nearly 10 seconds, the Michigan State novice eight got things started in the afternoon, earning a spot in the grand final on Sunday with a third-place finish in the semifinal. The Spartan crew of Vicky Grygar, Clare Adamus, Alex Maibusch, Amanda Dunnill, Jessica Vandenberg, Katie Hood, Megan Kursik, Dhanielle Tobias, and Daryl Lederle crossed the line in 7:24.74, finishing behind the winning crew from Virginia (7:06.20) and second-place Wisconsin (7:16.52). The Spartans finished with more than a length of open water on Kansas (7:28.77), Central Florida (7:32.67) and Tennessee (7:43.57) who rounded out the bottom three.
"They novice boat is really excited to be in the grand final and put a great performance together tomorrow" said MSU novice coach Christiina Tymoszewicz. "They had a great first and second race, so they're excited for the last race to complete the event."
In the varsity four, MSU's Allison Duffy, Catie Tyzo, Nancy Deihl, Victoria Woodard and Julie Ward captured second in the morning heat with a time of 7:43.13 to advance to the A/B semifinal. In the semifinal Michigan State was even with the leading crews as they crossed the 1500-meter mark, but was unable to advance to the grand final, finishing fourth in 7:42.68. Minnesota (7:37.80), Wisconsin (7:38.40) and Tennessee (7:39.60) claimed the top three spots to advance to the grand final, while Michigan State, Clemson (8:01.14) and Louisville (8:01.95) will race in the petite final on Sunday.
The Spartan second varsity eight got things back on track, advancing to the grand final with a second-place finish in the semifinal. Virginia (7:00.00) crossed the line first, followed by the Spartan crew of Tamara Yantovsky, Ashley Peach, Emily Regan, Sarah Kreft, Jenna Peters, Kate Taylor, Danica Bevan, Ashley Wenneman and Lauren Gamble who went from start to finish in 7:02.65. Wisconsin (7:03.96) finished third to also advance to the grand final, while Ohio State (7:07.49), Duke (7:22.48) and Central Florida (7:27.18) will race in the petite final.
In a close heat this morning, the varsity eight fought its way into the A/B semifinal with a third-place finish, but was unable to capitalize this afternoon, finished the semifinal in sixth place. Minnesota (6:52.00), Tennessee (6:53.31) and Central Florida (6:55.58) captured the top three places to advance to the grand final. Louisville (6:56.16), Michigan (7:00.68) and MSU (7:02.53) rounded out the bottom three and will race in the petite final.
"We've still got another day of racing," said MSU head coach Matt Weise. "We didn't make the grand final in the varsity eight or varsity four, but the petite finals are still going to be critical in those events."
Tennessee, Minnesota and Virginia hold an advantage over the 23-school field heading into day two, as they have placed each of their three NCAA Championship boats into the grand finals. Racing will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m., beginning with the `D' finals, followed by the `C' finals which begin at 9:30 a.m. The grand and petite finals will alternate, starting at 10:20 a.m. with the open four, followed by the novice eight, varsity four, second varsity eight and concluding with the varsity eight races.
Players Mentioned
