Wolverines Off to NCAA Championships
5/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
May 24, 2017
» U-M earned an at-large bid for its 10th consecutive NCAA Championships berth and its 18th overall.
» Michigan is one of a conference-record five Big Ten programs to have earned a bid to the national regatta.
» The Wolverines seek their first national championship boat since the 2V8 won a title in 2012.
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THIS WEEK
Fri-Sun., May 26-28 -- at NCAA Championships (West Windsor, N.J.), 9 a.m./8 a.m.
Host Site Information | Results | Live Video (NCAA.com) | Friday Heat Sheets 
| Saturday Heat Sheets | Sunday Heat Sheets
The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan rowing team will wrap its 2017 campaign this weekend (May 26-28) at the NCAA Championships on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, New Jersey.
The Wolverines are set for a three-day competition beginning with heats on Friday (May 26) at 9 a.m. Semifinals will resume Saturday (May 27) at 8 a.m., and finals will begin at the same time on Sunday (May 28).
Michigan is making its 10th consecutive trip to the national regatta and the 18th in 21 years as a varsity program, all under head coach Mark Rothstein.
Racing will include the first varsity eight, second varsity eight and first varsity four races. The three boats from each school will compete for individual national titles while earning points toward the overall team championship.
Michigan's 2V8 and 1V4 boats are both the top-seeded boats from the Big Ten, and U-M is joined by Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin, meaning a conference-record five programs will be represented this weekend in New Jersey.
U-M will have all three of its competing boats ranked as top-seven seeds:
1V8 -- No. 7 seed
2V8 -- No. 4 seed
1V4 -- No. 3 seed
The race schedule for Sunday's finals and lineups for this weekend can be found below:
Sunday's Championship Schedule (All times ET)
8:12 a.m. -- Fours D Final (Places 19-22)
8:24 a.m. -- Fours C Final (Places 13-18)
8:36 a.m. -- II Eights D Final (Places 19-22)
8:48 a.m. -- II Eights C Final (Places 13-18)
9 a.m. -- I Eights D Final (Places 19-22)
9:12 a.m. -- I Eights C Final (Places 13-18)
10 a.m. -- Fours Petite Final (Places 7-12)
10:12 a.m. -- Fours Grand Final (Places 1-6)
10:24 a.m. -- II Eights Petite Final (Places 7-12)
10:36 a.m. -- II Eights Grand Final (Places 1-6)
10:48 a.m. -- I Eights Petite Final (Places 7-12)
11 a.m. - I Eights Grand Final (Places 1-6)
11:30 a.m. -- Awards Ceremony
Varsity Eight Lineups
1V8: Kathryn Boyle (coxswain), Meghan Gutknecht, Tayla-May Bentley, Kendall Brewer, Kaitlin Wright, Shayla Lamb, Tessa Yurko, Louisa Freeman and Kalia Krichko
2V8: Alexis Jones (coxswain), Flick Cain, Sarah Hudnall, Lexie Beemer, Kara Puidokas, Rebecca Joyce, Caroline Hendershot, Rachel Fanning and Kathryn Grotto
Varsity Four Lineup
1V4: Erika Yasuda (coxswain), Victoria Glunt, Abby Vare, Kinsey Vear and Susie Stevens
THINGS TO KNOW
• This marks Michigan's 18th bid to the NCAA Championships in 21 years as a varsity program. U-M was one of 11 at-large bids to earn a spot in the tournament field, which holds 22 teams overall.
• U-M seeks its ninth top-five finish at the NCAA Championships in 18 years of competition. Overall, the team has accrued 14 top-10 finishes so far, including consecutive 10th-place showings heading into this weekend's championships.
• The Wolverines hope to avenge their runner-up team finish from the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago (May 14), when they finished one point shy of the team title after the 2V8, 1V4, 3V4 and 1N8 boats won races.
• The Maize and Blue was the national runner-up in 2001 and again in 2012, its highest finish ever at the NCAA regatta. In 2012, the Michigan 2V8 boat won a national championship, helping the Wolverines to second place in the team standings behind Virginia.
• Coming out of the conference meet, a number of Wolverines collected Big Ten accolades: Kaitlin Wright and Kendall Brewer earned first team All-Big Ten recognition, while Louisa Freeman and Tessa Yurko were awarded second-team nods. Freshman Tayla-May Bentley was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
• After opening the season at No. 4, the team's best preseason ranking in more than 10 years, U-M has occupied a top-five placing all season, and the Wolverines remain at No. 4 in this week's latest edition (May 10). Among the six ranked Big Ten teams, U-M is the highest-ranked and one of two top-five programs.
• Among the roster's top returning athletes, eight of nine 1V8 competitors from last spring are back: Freeman, Wright, Brewer, Yurko, Shayla Lamb, Lexie Beemer, Meghan Gutknecht and Flick Cain.
• Head coach Mark Rothstein is in his 21st season at the helm of the program that he help build from a club team to a varsity powerhouse. He has coached eight teams to top-five NCAA Championship finishes. Rothstein has been recognized as the Big Ten Coach of the Year on four occasions and was named CRCA National Coach of the Year in 2001.
• Rothstein's penchant for developing not just Olympic caliber rowers, but Olympic caliber human beings, is highlighted in the latest piece from Steve Kornacki.
• Michigan Athletics honored more than 400 student-athletes at the Academic Celebration last month (April 10), including more than 30 U-M rowers. Lexie Beemer, Kinsey Vear, Catherine Olson and Kathleen Peng were among those to receive highest academic honors.
• Sophomore Caroline Hendershot has always found competitiveness to be a key in her development as a student and as an athlete. She talked about how that competitive fire has played into her ascending career in and out of the classroom in last week's Scholar Story.
• U-M alumnus and Hall of Honor inductee Kate Johnson (Class of 2001), who graduated U-M with a degree in political science and now works as vice president of global marketing for Visa, was named to Sports Business Journal's Forty under 40 list earlier this month and shared about the experience in a podcast interview.
Tweet of the Week 
Coach Rothstein knows the team is in as we get ready to head to the NCAA Championships next weekend. #RowBlue » https://t.co/K8apLvGZOu
-- Michigan Rowing (@umichrowing) May 21, 2017
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
Players Mentioned
