The Michigan rowing team finished out its season in Sacramento, California on Sunday at the NCAA Championships.

The event was highlighted by the second varsity eight’s sixth-place finish, as the team finished in 11th place out of the 16 teams invited to compete.

Virginia took home the championship, with California finishing second. It was the first national championship for the Cavaliers.

Michigan had an excellent start to the weekend, sending all three of their boats to the semifinals, making it the second year in a row that the team advanced all its boats to the finals.

On day two, the second varsity eight boat advanced to the grand final, while the first varsity eight and first varsity four each advanced to the petite final.

As the season finished out, the second varsity eight proved to be the Wolverines’ best boat, and Michigan coach Mark Rothstein attributes the improvement to their hard work and coaching.

“(Assistant) coach (Kate) Strum has done a great job with that boat,” Rothstein said. “They were really coachable, and I think she just did a really good job preparing them for the championship.”

But after a strong showing on the first two days, the team didn't perform as well on day three.

The second varsity eight finished sixth in the grand final on Sunday, while the first varsity eight placed 12th and the first varsity four finished 11th.

“This race is challenging and unique because you have to be fast three days in a row,” Rothstein said. “We were fast two days in a row, and just didn’t perform as well as we would’ve liked the last day.”

Rothstein acknowledged that it had been the team’s goal all season to advance boats into the finals of the NCAA Championships. They fulfilled that goal, and while the end result wasn't ideal, he was pleased with his team’s performance.

“Getting our second eight into the final was a great accomplishment,” Rothstein said. “Overall we had a really good championship, although our final placement was disappointing. I thought that it was our best championship since 2004 in terms of how we raced.”

The Wolverines will graduate eight seniors, but will return 21 letterwinners next year. The experience in itself will pay great dividends for the future leaders of the team.

“We had eight rowers at this regatta that had never been to NCAAs before, so there was a lot of good experience,” Rothstein said.”

Michigan now looks to the offseason. Rothstein — the first and only coach in Michigan varsity rowing history — stressed the importance of training and staying healthy.

And with plenty of returners and a strong recruiting class, there is no doubt that one of the top programs in the country will only continue to get stronger.