The No. 9 Michigan rowing team put on an impressive showing in Indianapolis over the weekend at the Big Ten Championships.
But the Wolverines didn’t win. And they lost to Ohio State.
Michigan as a team finished runner-up at the Big Ten Championships with 140 points, 31 ahead of third-place Wisconsin and 24 behind the second-ranked Buckeyes.
“Second place isn’t really satisfying,” said Michigan coach Mark Rothstein.
The highlight of the day came when the Wolverines’ first novice eight boat pulled out a victory with a time of 7:04.57, more than four seconds ahead of the second-place Ohio State boat. It was the third Big Ten championship for a Michigan novice boat, the previous wins being in 2001 and 2011.
“The best part about (the first novice eight) boat’s win is they’ll be together for three more years and get even better,” Rothstein said.
The second novice eight boat also had a strong performance, taking second place in 7:21.51, more than six seconds better than the third-place Wisconsin boat and 5.39 seconds behind Ohio State.
“Our crews raced very well today,” Rothstein said. “Even though we have a young group of coxswains, they’ve really settled into their roles nicely this year.”
The remaining races for the most part consisted of the Wolverines finishing runner-up to the Buckeyes. A hard-fought third varsity four race ended with Michigan falling short of Ohio State by less than one second. The Wolverines’ final time was 7:35.71.
The second varsity four, second varsity eight and first varsity eight races consisted of more of the same. The Wolverines beat everyone but the Buckeyes each time, taking 7:42.33, 6:45.34 and 6:34.22 respectively.
The one exception was the first varsity four race, where Michigan could only muster fourth place, trailing Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Wolverines finished the race in 7:39.41.
But Michigan’s performance over the weekend will likely earn them a spot in the upcoming NCAA Championships. The seeding will be announced on Tuesday.
“It’s certainly exciting,” Rothstein said. “We’ll just have to wait and see where we are seeded. In the meantime, we’re just looking forward to getting back to practice.”
In addition to the races, the All-Big Ten teams were announced. Fifth-year senior Amanda Elmore and senior Bryna Oleshansky were selected for the All-Big Ten first team, while junior Jessica Eiffert and fifth-year senior Chrissy Holm made the second team.