Big Ten Invitational Regatta Sends MSU Back to Sarasota

Michigan State returns to Sarasota, Florida and Nathan Benderson Park to compete in the Big Ten Invitational this weekend (Friday-Saturday, April 7-8).

Heat Sheets and Lane Assignments
B1G Invitational Live Results
B1G Invitational Website

In addition to the eight Big Ten rowing programs (No. 20 Indiana, Iowa, No. 13 Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, No. 11 Ohio State, Rutgers, and Wisconsin), eight other programs will be on hand: No. 19 Alabama, No. 6 Brown, UCLA, UCF, No. 12 Duke, SMU, No. 2 Stanford, and No. 18 Tennessee. In addition, MSU, Rutgers, Iowa, Wisconsin, UCF, MSU, and UCLA are all teams receiving votes, making this an incredibly competitive field which can expect top-notch racing.

Morning racing on both Friday and Saturday goes from 8:30 am-12:30 pm, with a Friday afternoon session 2:30 pm- 6:15 pm.   The races go off on 10-minute centers. There will be four varsity eight/novice eight races and three sets of fours.

MSU is coming off a strong weekend at the Sunshine State Invitational, which was held on the same racecourse a week ago. Three crews medaled – the novice eight (racing in the 3V8+ class) won both its races and took gold, MSU's varsity four took second place behind Wisconsin, and its third varsity four took bronze in the 2V fours race, edging out the Spartan 2V4 by a bowball.

Nathan Benderson Park was the host site of the NCAA Rowing Championships in 2018, 2021, and 2022.

It is a landmark season for the Spartan rowing program, as it celebrates the 25^th anniversary of Michigan State sponsoring rowing as a varsity sport, as well as acknowledging the 50^th anniversary of Title IX.  Kim Chavers is the third head coach in program history and she begins her fourth season at the helm.

The Spartans enter the season with four graduate or fifth-year students and three seniors – Emily Carless, Kendall Carlin, Ella Kubas, Victoria Mills, Mackenzie Rugg, Molly Stothard, and Olivia Tolkinen. MSU also rosters 17 juniors, 19 sophomores, and 29 freshmen.

Spartan rowing has dedicated three brand-new shells for the 2023 campaign.  The varsity eight boat, the Olivia Long '23, made its racing debut last weekend at the Sunshine State Invitational. The boat was dedicated last fall in memory of Long, who passed away from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident prior to her junior campaign.  Two brand-new varsity four shells were dedicated in November: the Molon Labe (dedicated by the Class of 2024), is the shell for the varsity four, and the Grand Legacy, (dedicated by the Class of 2004), is the boat for the second varsity four.

Spartan lineups
Varsity 8+
C - Lizzie Johnston; S - Sophia Ring; 7 - Kendall Carlin; 6 - Freya Engel; 5 - Carolynn Garner; 4 - Sabrina Gottschalk; 3 - Danielle Carlson; 2 - Molly Stothard; B - Maya Elbaranes

2nd Varsity 8+
   C - Ellise Flessland; S - Lucy Botting; 7 - Victoria Mills; 6 - Julie Armstrong; 5 - Emily Carless; 4 - Alice Bradley; 3 - Olivia Portner; 2 - Claudia Kingma; B - Madisen Holtz

Varsity 4+
   C - Sophia Stauffer; S - Lily Devereaux; 3 - Delaney Davis; 2 - Ella Kubas; B - Anna Drnkova

2nd Varsity 4+
C - Kendall Gonya; S - Eleni Agioti; 3 - Olivia Tolkinen; 2 - Breanna Berry; B - Abby Marek

3rd Varsity 4+
C - Grace Thomas; S - Mackenzie Rugg; 3 - Kaylie Wright; 2 - Ella Harrell; B - Kat Borders

Novice 8+
C - Kate Galazin; S - Jayden Schmaltz; 7 - Haley Rinehart; 6 - Lillian Davidson-Walshe; 5 - Sophia Parker; 4 - Ava Woodard; 3 - Alaina Roush; 2 - Jillian Cox; B - Eryn Rose

Second Novice 8+
C - Erin Swartz; S - Danielle Edington; 7 - Nora Roche; 6 - Bella Short; 5 - Margaret Daiber; 4 - Lauren Droska; 3 - Logan Hibbard; 2 - Kaleigh Yunker; B - Elise Ciantar;

Players Mentioned

Julie Armstrong

Breanna Berry

Kat Borders

Lucy Botting

Alice Bradley

Emily Carless

Kendall Carlin

Danielle Carlson

Elise Ciantar

Jillian Cox

Maggie Daiber

Lillian Davidson-Walshe

Delaney Davis

Lily Devereaux

Anna Drnkova

Lauren Droska

Danielle Edington

Maya Elbaranes

Freya Engel

Ellise Flessland

Kate Galazin

Carolynn Garner

Kendall Gonya

Sabrina Gottschalk

Ella Harrell

Logan Hibbard

Madisen Holtz

Lizzie Johnston

Claudia Kingma

Ella Kubas

Abby Marek

Victoria Mills

Sophia Parker

Olivia Portner

Haley Rinehart

Sophia Ring

Nora Roche

Eryn Rose

Alaina Roush

Mackenzie Rugg

Jayden Schmaltz

Sophia Stauffer

Molly Stothard

Erin Swartz

Grace Thomas

Olivia Tolkinen

Ava Woodard

Kaylie Wright

Kaleigh Yunker

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