Michigan
NCAA Heats
Fourth-Place Finishes Put U-M in NCAA Repechage Heats
5/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
INDIANAPOLIS -- Strong cross winds and tough competition resulted in three fourth-place finishes for the University of Michigan rowing team today (Friday, May 31) at the NCAA Championships at the Eagle Creek Reservoir. The first varsity eight's finish put them in the repechage heats for the first time in five trips to the national championships and forces them to return to the course and row in the afternoon for a chance to advance to the semifinals of the event.
The results for the second varsity eight and varsity four did not hurt the team, as the new format of the championships make it much harder to advance directly to the Grande Final of those events. Only the two heat winners in each event advanced to Sunday's (June 2) Grande Finals, while the remaining 10 teams race in repechage heats tomorrow morning (June 1).
Michigan's first varsity eight, which has struggled with starts all season, found itself in third place at the 500-meter mark, just over one second behind Princeton and Ohio State. The second 500 meters proved to be a problem, as the Wolverines posted a split time of 1:48.92 and fell into fourth by nearly five seconds. The crew stayed steady through the third 500 meters, still five seconds out of third at the 1,500-meter mark. Since the fourth- and fifth-place boats have to return in the afternoon for a repechage heat, the Wolverines spent the last 500 meters conserving energy for the afternoon race. The crew finished in fourth with a time of 7:04.70, over eight seconds behind California, which was third in the heat.
From the third heat, Ohio State, Princeton and California advanced to tomorrow's (June 1) semifinals, while Michigan and Cornell row this afternoon at 4 p.m. EST/CDT in the repechage heat. The other six boats to automatically advance to the semifinals were Washington, Harvard and Virginia from the first heat and Brown, Yale and Stanford from the second heat. The top three boats in the repechage heat will advance to the semifinals. The remaining four boats move to the final for places 13-16. From the two semifinals, the top three boats in each race will advance to the Grande Final, with the other three moving on to the Petite Final.
The second varsity eight races turned in two of the most interesting situations on the first day of the championships. In the first heat, the rudder of Harvard's boat broke off about 750 meters into the race and the boat struggled through another 1,000 meters until it was ordered to go directly to the dock for repairs.
In the second heat, the Wolverines overcame a slow start to move from sixth to fourth in the second 500 meters. The first three boats -- Washington, Ohio State and Yale -- were tightly packed about three seconds ahead of Michigan. The race progressed in about the same formation until just after the 1,500-meter mark. Just after the boats passed the marker, Yale crossed its buoy line, shifting from its assigned Lane 1 into Ohio State in Lane 2 despite a strong crosswind from the opposite direction. The move appeared to interfere with the Buckeyes, allowing Washington to take over the lead for good and advance to the Grande Final of the event. The problem did not affect U-M, which crossed the finish line in fourth with a time of 7:23.50, six seconds behind by Ohio State's third-place time of 7:14.62.
From today's two heats, Brown and Washington advanced to Sunday's Grande Final for the Second Varsity Eight. The other 10 boats row tomorrow in two repechage heats with the top two from each advancing to the Grande Final and the other six to the Petite Final.
Another bad start for the Wolverines put the varsity four in fifth place 500 meters into the race. The crew closed the gap on Yale over the second 500 meters but remained in fourth. The boat held its spot until the end when a fading Princeton squad threatened to take over fourth in the sprint, but the Wolverines held on for a fourth-place finish.
From the two heats, Brown and Harvard advanced to Sunday's Grande Final for the Varsity Four. The other 10 boats row tomorrow in two repechage heats with the top two advancing to the Grande Final and the other six to the Petite Final.
Results (Day 1, Morning Heats)
First Varsity Eight (Heat 1) 1. Washington* 6:47.20 2. Harvard* 6:54.20 3. Virginia* 6:54.90 4. Syracuse 6:55.70 5. Washington State 6:56.30 6. Michigan State 7:03.30 First Varsity Eight (Heat 2) 1. Brown* 6:49.20 2. Yale* 6:53.40 3. Stanford* 6:53.43 4. Southern California 6:56.80 5. Notre Dame 7:05.70 First Varsity Eight (Heat 3) 1. Ohio State* 6:51.60 2. Princeton* 6:53.00 3. California* 6:56.50 4. MICHIGAN 7:04.70 5. Cornell 7:09.60 * Advance to First Varsity Eight Semifinals Second Varsity Eight (Heat 1) 1. Brown^ 7:10.45 2. Virginia 7:13.93 3. Princeton 7:16.80 4. Michigan State 7:17.55 5. California 7:21.69 6. Harvard DNF Second Varsity Eight (Heat 2) 1. Washington^ 7:09.89 2. Yale 7:10.20 3. Ohio State 7:14.62 4. MICHIGAN 7:23.50 5. Stanford 7:26.69 6. Syracuse 7:30.75 ^ Advance to Second Varsity Eight Grande Final Varsity Four (Heat 1) 1. Brown@ 8:02.78 2. Virginia 8:07.66 3. Yale 8:10.59 4. MICHIGAN 8:13.63 5. Princeton 8:13.76 6. Syracuse 8:35.45 Varsity Four (Heat 2) 6. Harvard@ 8:04.69 1. Michigan State 8:13.88 5. California 8:19.19 2. Washington 8:19.33 3. Ohio State 8:23.00 4. Stanford 8:33.15 @ Advance to Varsity Four Grande Final
Michigan Lineups
First Varsity Eight
Coxswain Helen Dalis, Kate Maxim, Tami McBratney, Leah Ketcheson, Christina Meyer, Erin Kopicki, Sophie Roberge, Katie Reynolds, Crystal Culp
Second Varsity Eight
Coxswain Tara Medina, Brett Sickler, Heather Mandoli, Elizabeth Nelson, Elizabeth Kreger, Jenny Bryant, Cristin McCarty, Laura Drongowski, Julie Brescoll
Varsity Four
Coxswain Corinn Cunningham, Angela Bierhuizen, Emily Goodwin, Christina Ceo, Emke Bury
N O T E S
The NCAA Rowing Championships have a new look this season. The format for this season creates three separate national championships -- Division I, Division II and Division III -- which take place on the same course over the same dates. For the Division I championships, the field expands to 12 teams and four first varsity eight boats which are not part of a program that is participating as a team. The expansion results in a first varsity eight event with 16 participants and second varsity eight and varsity four events with 12 participants.
Contact: Jason Gerdom (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
