Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
NCAA Heats/Repechage
Eights Advance to NCAA Semis
5/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 27, 2011
Gold River, Calif. - Michigan State advanced its two eights into the semifinals of the 2011 NCAA National Championship Regatta on Friday morning, while the varsity four failed to make the semis and will now race in Sunday's third-level final. The regatta's Friday start, held on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif., kicked off three days of racing to determine a national champion.
Live Race Results (jamcotimes.com)>
"The varsity eight really raced well today," said head coach Matt Weise. "They were smart and efficient, and turned in a great effort to get into the semis tomorrow, and beat Virginia, who beat us earlier in the season. It's a boost of confidence for them as we head into racing on Saturday."
The Spartan varsity eight raced well from the start and earned second place in its opening heat, finishing second to No. 1 Princeton by less than a length and beating third-place Virginia by two seats. The Tigers set the pace from the settle and had open water on the field at the 1000 meter mark, but MSU rowed a smart race, maintaining its own race plan and coming in with a time of 6:26.87, three seconds back from Princeton at the finish.
The second varsity eight managed to advance into the semis with their finish in the race. The Spartans were behind Cal, Virginia, and Wisconsin at the finish, and thought they would be rowing in the afternoon repechage heats. However, the Cal boat - which finished more than three seconds ahead of the remainder of the field - came in underweight, relegating them into the afternoon repechage and sending MSU, the fourth-place boat in the race, into the semifinals. The Spartans were clocked in a time of 6:45.70, which was still in contact with Wisconsin (third place) as they crossed the finish line.
MSU's four had a rougher morning, finishing fourth in their heat and sent to the afternoon repechage. The morning heat had the Spartans lined up with Cal, Ohio State, and Princeton, which raced out to an open-water lead on the remainder of the field. Cal won the heat by open water, and Ohio State (five seconds behind the Bears) had almost a full length of a margin over Princeton at the finish. In the repechage heat, Brown and Michigan got out to an early lead and Brown held off Michigan to win the second-chance race, followed by the Wolverines. The Spartans in lane two and Yale in lane one were separated by only two seats as the crews crossed the 1000 meter mark but the Elis began to pull away from there. Third place went to Yale, and Harvard was able to overtake MSU in the final 500 to take fourth place. The Crimson will join MSU, Clemson, and Dartmouth in the third-level final on Sunday morning.
The Saturday racing begins at 9 am, as the varsity eight semis will go off at 9 and 9:15 a.m. The semis for the second varsity will immediately follow, at 9:30 and 9:45.
Varsity Eight
Heat 1: 1 Princeton 6:23.84; (2) Michigan State 6:26.87; (3) Virginia 6:27.86; (4) Washington 6:33.94; (5) Michigan 6:39.85.
Heat 2: (1) Brown 6:22.48; (2) California 6:26.57; (3) Yale 6:30.92; (4) Dartmouth 6:34.99; (5) Clemson 6:39.00.
Heat 3: (1) Stanford 6:23.67; (2) Southern California 6:28.86; (3) Washington State 6:33.68; (4) Wisconsin 6:34.81; (5) Ohio State 6:36.42; (6) Harvard 6:45.22.
Second Varsity Eight
Heat 1: (1) Brown 6:36.74; (2) Ohio State 6:39.27; (3) Princeton 6:41.20; (4) Michigan 6:49.75; (5) Clemson 7:00.05.
Heat 2: (1) Stanford 6:32.09; (2) Southern California 6:40.62; (3) Washington 6:40.65; (4) Yale 6:40.93; (5) Dartmouth 6:49.07.
Heat 3: (1) Virginia 6:40.87; (2) Wisconsin 6:42.20 (3) Michigan State 6:45.70; (4) Washington State 6:47.39; (5) Harvard 7:00.86; (6) California 6:37.04 (relegated)
Varsity Four
Heat 1: (1) California 7:21.86; (2) Ohio State 7:26.96; (3) Princeton 7:29.38; (4) Michigan State 7:44.48; (5) Clemson 7:50.02.
Heat 2: (1) Wisconsin 7:20.60; (2) Washington 7:23.57; (3) Washington State 7:30.00; (4) Yale 7:36.04; (5) Harvard 7:46.51.
Heat 3: (1) Virginia 7:23.68; (2) Southern California 7:26.68; (3) Stanford 7:27.12; (4) Brown 7:35.72; (5) Michigan 7:38.79; (6) Dartmouth 7:58.49.
Repechage Heat: (1) Brown 7:54.95; (2) Michigan 7:58.11; (3) Yale 8:00.64; (4) Harvard 8:01.35; (5) Michigan State 8:08.74; (6) Clemson 8:11.36; (7) Dartmouth 8:16.31
