Three Heats, Three Wins: On to NCAA Championships Semifinals

Friday, May 26

West Windsor, N.J.

9:00 AM

Michigan

NCAA Heats

Three Heats, Three Wins: On to NCAA Championships Semifinals

5/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Rowing

By: Chad Shepard

Rowing

» Friday's (May 26) heats marked the opening day of competition at the 2017 NCAA Championships, with Saturday's (May 27) semifinals and Sunday's (May 28) final races set to begin at 8 a.m.
» The Wolverines advanced each of their three competing boats to A/B Semifinals on Saturday (May 27), winning all three of their heats.
» A top-two heat finish earned teams automatic bids to tomorrow's semifinals, but other teams can qualify via this afternoon's repechage.

• Results | Host Site Information | Photo Gallery

Site: West Windsor, N.J. (Lake Mercer)
Event: NCAA Championships (Heats)
First Varsity Eight Finish: Heat 2, 1st of 5 (6:11.950) - advances to A/B Semifinals
Second Varsity Eight Finish: Heat 4, 1st of 6 (6:18.497) - advances to A/B Semifinals
First Varsity Four Finish: Heat 3, 1st of 6 (7:02.466) - advances to A/B Semifinals
Next U-M Event: Sat-Sun., May 27-28 -- at NCAA Championships (Mercer Lake, West Windsor, N.J.), 8 a.m.

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. -- The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan rowing team advanced all three of its competing boats to A/B semifinal action during the first day of competition at the NCAA Championships on Friday (May 27). Competing on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, New Jersey, the Maize and Blue saw all three boats win their respective heats to automatically advance to Saturday (May 27) semifinals.

After a rainy and windy day on Thursday (May 25), the skies cleared up for today's first day of competition. Temperatures rose into the high 60s/low 70s by the time the Division I races had ended. Winds were mild early, with about a six-to-eight mile-per-hour wind moving westward, increasing up to 10-12 miles per hour for the late-morning races.

Five to six boats competed in each heat, with the top two finishing boats advancing to tomorrow's A/B semifinals. The remaining teams return to Lake Mercer this afternoon for repechage races, where a few boats will have a chance to earn one of the final remaining bids for Saturday.

Racing against Gonzaga, No. 15 Washington State, No. 2 California and No. 13 Iowa, the 1V8 boat (seeded No. 7 overall) competed in heat 2, and the Wolverines earned the first semifinal bid of the weekend with a race win in 6:11.95. That time marked a +2.15-second victory over the Golden Bears, aided by a strong start to the race.

U-M executed the first 500 meters of the race very cleanly, hanging right with Cal, which jumped out to an early lead. Withholding a mid-race push from Iowa, the Wolverines surged ahead over the final half of the race, passing Cal and expanding on their lead to win by 2.15 seconds.

Competing against Massachusetts, No. 8 Stanford, No. 4 Texas, No. 13 Iowa and Central Florida, the 2V8 boat (seeded No. 4 overall) followed up on that performance with a win of its own, coming in at 6:18.497 (+2.52 over Texas). While the race was tight in the early stages, near the halfway point the Wolverines began to pull away and stretched their margin of victory even further over the final 1,250 meters or so. Behind them, the two-three finish between Texas and Stanford was among the tightest of the day, with the Longhorns squeaking out the second-place auto-bid by .314 seconds.

In U-M's final action of the afternoon, the 1V4 boat (seeded No. 3 overall) competed against Navy, Stanford, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 14 Indiana and Jacksonville. It resulted in the third win of the day for the block M, as the Wolverines cruised to a +4.148-second win, with Stanford coming in second.

The Wolverines will continue competition on Saturday (May 27), with the 1V8 (8:48 a.m. start) and 2V8 (9:36 a.m. start) boats racing in the second heat of their respective events and the 1V4 (10:12 a.m. start) racing in the first heat. NCAA.com will continue to provide live video streaming of races all weekend.

RESULTS

1V8 (Heat 2)
1. MICHIGAN -- 6:11.950
2. California -- 6:14.10
3. Iowa -- 6:15.90
4. Washington State -- 6:20.20
5. Gonzaga -- 6:22.306

2V8 (Heat 4)
1. MICHIGAN -- 6:18.497
2. Texas -- 6:20.749
3. Stanford -- 6:21.435
4. Iowa -- 6:38.717
5. UCF -- 6:54.625
6. Massachusetts -- 7:05.232

1V4 (Heat 3)
1. MICHIGAN -- 7:02.466
2. Stanford -- 7:06.614
3. Wisconsin -- 7:08.237
4. Indiana -- 7:30.371
5. Navy -- 7:37.997
6. Jacksonville -- 8:06.944

Michigan Crews

1V8: Kat Boyle (coxswain), Meghan Gutknecht, Tayla-May Bentley, Kendall Brewer, Kaitlin Wright, Shayla Lamb, Tessa Yurko, Louisa Freeman, Kalia Krichko