Michigan State University
#3 Brown
Rowing Varsity Four Finishes First Against Princeton and Brown
3/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
March 29, 2008
PRINCETON, N.J. - Michigan State rowing opened its spring season against Princeton and Brown on Saturday morning, racing 2,000-meter heats through strong headwinds with gusts and whitecaps on Carnegie Lake in Princeton, N.J. MSU's varsity four boat continued to shine as the crew finished first, clocking in at 8:29.8, while the varsity eight and second varsity eight boats finished second.
"All the varsity boats raced really well, and had great second thousands," said head coach Matt Weise. "We need to work on the first thousand meters, but that means we saw some things we can work on and fix, which means there is more speed to be had."
The varsity four crew (Sarah Kreft, Clare Vandelinder, Ashley Wenneman, Nancy Diehl and Allison Duffy) finished over 15 seconds before Brown crossed the finish line at 8:44.9; Princeton's boat finished last at 9:08.4. The crews battled through strong winds in the first 100 meters, but Michigan State pulled ahead and rowed with great rhythm to maintain and extend its comfortable lead.
The second varsity eight crew started strong as Brown set the tone early, and Princeton and Brown took the initial leads. After being down almost a boat's length at 1,000 meters, MSU's boat sparked to move ahead of Princeton and put the pressure on Brown. The Spartans finished at 7:52.1, under six seconds after Brown but three seconds before Princeton.
In the morning's final race, all three teams came off strong in the first 500 meters before Princeton pulled away in the 250-750 meter stanza. The Tigers were ahead nearly 2.5 seconds at the halfway mark, but Michigan State pulled hard to take a four-seat advantage on Brown, which the Spartans extended as they inched closer to Princeton's open water. A good second 1,000 meters gave MSU's varsity eight a second-place finish, clocking in at 7:13.7, just three-tenths of a second behind the Tigers (7:13.4). Brown finished in 7:21.1.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday, April 5, hosting Indiana, Notre Dame and Miami (Fla.) on Grand River Park in Lansing, Mich.
Players Mentioned
