Spartans Finish Seventh at NCAA Regatta

May 29, 2011

Gold River, Calif. - Michigan State finished seventh as a team at the 2011 NCAA Championship Regatta, which wrapped up on Sunday morning on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California. The varsity eight was the top-finishing boat for the Spartans, tying a program-best sixth-place finish. The second varsity eight used a strong final sprint to finish second in the Petite Final (eighth overall), while the varsity four led from start to finish to win the third-level final by open water. The Spartans were the highest-finishing crew of the four Big Ten teams which qualified for the National Championship regatta.

"I'm really very proud of our entire team; of every athlete that we brought to NCAA's," said head coach Matt Weise. "Both eights finished ahead of our seed, the four had a great win today, and as a team we finished a spot ahead of our ranking. This is what we train for all year, and I thought that every performance today was not only our best effort, but also impressive.

MSU's varsity eight finished sixth in the Grand Final, a race which had eluded the varsity eight in the last two seasons. The Spartans were in the sixth lane, the furthest lane from the shore and the toughest lane in which to row; the team battled down the course and fought valiantly to maintain contact with the rest of the pack, which they were able to do until the final sprint. The boat tied the highest-ever finish for the varsity eight at the NCAA's,as the 2006 and 2008 varsity eight crews also finished sixth in the Grand Final.

"Those athletes are probably feeling a little worse right now than they did the last two years, when they finished a spot lower overall in the standings," admitted Weise. "However, there's not a single regret - in those past two years, we maybe made a mistake here or there in the heats or the semis that cost us a chance to row for a National Championship. Today, they got that opportunity, and I thought they rowed very well. There's some fantastic seniors in that boat who have represented us very, very well for four years."

The second varsity eight rowed in the Petite final, and put on an impressive finishing sprint to move ahead of Princeton in the final 250 meters to take a second-place finish. MSU was sixth of seven boats at the 500 meter mark, but had settled into third place by the 1000 meter mark. The Spartans were able to counter any move made by the surrounding crews, and MSU was holding off Washington State and sat a half-length back of Princeton as the teams came over the 1500 meter mark. Headed into the final 250, the Spartans had trimmed the Tigers lead to less than two seats, and pushed over the line by a bowball over Princeton at the finish. Washington was a half-length ahead of MSU as they won the Petite Final in a time of 6:35.91. MSU clocked in at 6:37.28, and Princeton in 6:37.43 - a margin of :00.15 seconds.

The varsity four, which failed to qualify for the Saturday semifinals in the Friday repechage heats, led from the settle to the finish line and maintained an open-water margin over Harvard to win the third-level final. The four's performance was collected and impressive, as the boat of young rowers - all but one in their first NCAA event - maintained their composure to post MSU's victory.

The NCAA Championship regatta marks the finale of the Spartan careers of eight seniors: Laura Cowal, Kellie LaPointe, Alex Maibusch, Stephanie Bochenek, Monique Carter, Claire Vandelinder, Kristina deJong, and coxswain Alyse Egner. All eight were on hand at the NCAA regatta.

Sunday NCAA Championship Regatta Results

Varsity Eight:

Grand Final: (1) Princeton 6:27.12; (2) Brown 6:28.62; (3) Stanford 6:28.67; (4) Cal 6:30.06; (5) USC 6:30.19; (6) Michigan State 6:36.12 .

Petite Final (7-12th places): (1) Virginia 6:33.24; (2) Yale 6:33.83; (3) Wisconsin 6:37.65; (4) Washington 6:38.06; (5) Washington State 6:42.66; (6) Michigan 6:42.74.

Third-Level Final (13-16th place): (1) Harvard 6:34.45; (2) Ohio State 6:36.62; (3)Clemson 6:38.47; (4) Dartmouth 6:40.63.

Second Varsity Eight:

Grand Final: (1) Stanford 6:26.76 ; (2) Brown 6:29.41; (3) Cal 6:31.70; (4) Ohio State 6:33.42; (5) Virginia 6:37.20; (6) USC 6:37.83 .

Petite Final (7-13th places): (1) Washington 6:35.91; (2) Michigan State 6:37.28; (3) Princeton 6:37.43; (4)Washington State 6:40.57 ; (5) Michigan 6:42.28; (6) Yale 6:43.59; (7) Wisconsin 6:43.92 .

Third-Level Final (14-16th place): (1) Dartmouth 6:34.45; (2) Clemson 6:34.91; (3) Harvard 6:41.91.

Varsity Four:

Grand Final: (1)Cal 7:09.60 ; (2)Virginia 7:11.39; (3) USC 7:12.73; (4) Washington; (5) Wisconsin 7:17.74; (6) Stanford 7:18.08.

Petite Final (7-12th places): (1)Brown 7:17.67 ; (2) Ohio State 7:18.32; (3) Princeton 7:19.24; (4) Washington State 7:24.00; (5) Michigan 7:26.72; (6) Yale 7:29.57 .

Third-Level Final (13-16th place): (1) Michigan State 7:28.50; (2)Harvard 7:32.72; (3) Clemson 7:34.71; (4) Dartmouth 7:40.83.