Michigan State University Athletics
Rowers Earn NCAA Regatta Bid
5/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 17, 2011
East Lansing, Mich. - The Michigan State rowing program has earned a berth in the NCAA National Championship Regatta, which will be held May 27-29 in Sacramento, Calif. The 16-team field was announced by the NCAA Selection Committee on Tuesday afternoon, and the Spartans will be rowing in the sport's National Championship event for the 13th time in its 14 varsity seasons.
"We are excited about being selected for the NCAA Championships again - it is recognition of our hard work against a challenging schedule throughout the season," said head coach Matt Weise, who is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and has is bringing his team to the NCAA regatta for the sixth time in his seven-year tenure. "We look forward to the three days of racing against the top programs in the country and see how we match up against them."
The Spartans have raced against nine of the other 15 teams selected to the NCAA field. Each team is required to field two boats of eight rowers and one boat of four rowers. This is the third season in which the field will feature 16 full teams. Joining the Spartans on Lake Natoma next weekend will be three other Big Ten schools - Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin - along with Pac-10 entries Cal, Washington, Washington State, USC, and Stanford; Ivy League crews Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale, as well as Virginia, Clemson.
Michigan State has finished sixth three times, (most recently in 2008 and 2009) at the NCAA's, which is its best team finish. The Spartans have an eye on bettering their previous finishes; the MSU varsity eight is among the top boats in the nation, with four of it's five losses to Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Top five (Princeton, Brown, Virginia, and USC); its other loss came to No. 11 Ohio State in a dual race, which the Spartans avenged by winning its unprecedented fourth straight Big Ten title last Sunday in Indianapolis. No other Big Ten varsity eight has won more than back-to-back championship races.
Michigan State is ranked eighth as a team in the most recent CRCA poll, released May 4. The bid is the Spartans' ninth full-team bid in the last nine seasons; the only year in which the team did not qualify for the National Regatta was in 2007, which is the only year that the Spartans did not qualify since becoming a varsity sport in 1998. MSU has now received 11 team bids and received at-large berths for their varsity eight boat in both 1998 and 2001.
Michigan State was selected to the field on the strength of a fine regular season. The Spartans finished fourth as a team at the Big Ten Championships on May 15, as its varsity eight rowed to its fourth consecutive gold medal. The varsity eight had five athletes earn All-Big Ten honors: senior and Big Ten Athlete of the Year candiddate Laura Cowal (Thorold, Ontario) was joined by classmates Kellie LaPointe (Grosse Ile, Mich.) and Stephanie Bochenek (Hamilton, Ontario) on the All-Big Ten First Team, while senior Alex Maibusch (Hinsdale, Ill) and junior coxswain Amanda McGeachie (Sidney, British Columbia) were named Second Team All Big Ten.
The league's top awards - the Freshman, Athlete, and Coach of the Year, will be announced on Wednesday. Cowal, the 2008 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, stands alone in Big Ten history - the only athlete to win four varsity eight gold medals.
