Seeking its eighth consecutive bid to the NCAA championships, the No. 7 women’s rowing team earned a third-place finish in the Central Region at the Central/South Region Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
As a team, the Wolverines finished fourth overall at the championships with 317 points, behind No. 9 Virginia, No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 4 Ohio State.
Michigan’s varsity eight clocked in at 6:36.16 on the 2,000-meter course — just over a second behind Wisconsin — and finished fifth in its race.
“(Wisconsin) had a really great race today,” senior Leah Ketcheson said. “We’re just hoping if we get a bid to nationals, that we’ll be able to work harder the next two weeks and make up some ground.”
The Wolverines were in front of the Badgers early in the race, but Wisconsin edged Michigan in the last 1000 meters. The Wolverines did hold off Michigan State, who had previously won the Big Ten varsity eight championship. Michigan finished third in the race at the conference championships.
“We just wanted to go into the race with an aggressive pace,” Ketcheson said. “We did go out pretty hard at the beginning. I’m not sure if we lost it in the second 1000 (meters), I just think we just tried to hold the pace, and that just didn’t work for us today.”
Ohio State took first in the race, clocking in eight seconds ahead of the Wolverines. It’s that time span that worries Michigan coach Mark Rothstein.
“Finishing fifth is not so bad because the crews that beat us are very good,” Rothstein said. “But I’m more concerned about the margins and how far back we were.”
Virginia and No. 11 Tennessee also beat the Wolverines.
The second varsity eight and the varsity four picked up fourth-place finishes.
The second varsity eight crossed the finish line just two-tenths of a second behind Michigan State. After struggling a bit this season, Rothstein responded by changing the lineup.
“I think they’re starting to come together, and they showed it today,” Rothstein said.
It’s unclear whether the team will get a bid to the NCAA championship because three other Big Ten teams — Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State — sit ahead of the Wolverines.
“It’s definitely a strong conference,” Michigan associate head coach Emily Ford said. “It’s very competitive, which is exciting, because I think it makes everyone faster.”
A bright spot at the tournament was Michigan’s novice eight boat — composed solely of walk-on rowers — which notched the Wolverines only first-place finish. The boat finished four seconds ahead of Virginia.
“Our novice program has been exceptional this year,” Rothstein said.
Three novice rowers — Annie Hildebrand, Liz Nelson and Marin McCabe — were moved up to varsity boats during the season.
“(To have their three best rowers taken out) and still win this event — which is very competitive — is really exceptional and is quite auspicious for future years,” Rothstein said.
The Wolverines will find out whether they get a bid to the NCAA championships when the field is announced tomorrow.