Rowing takes 10th at NCAA’s
By CHLOE AUBUCHON
Daily Sports Writer
On the final day of the NCAA
Championships Sunday, the Michi-
gan women’s rowing team failed
to capitalize on momentum from
its second-place finish behind top-
ranked Ohio State at the Big Ten
Tournament, placing 10th overall
on the weekend.
The scene at the event was simi-
lar to the Big Ten Tournament,
with the Buck-
eyes
making
history as the
first-ever
team
to
win
three
straight
NCAA
titles.
A strong per-
formance in Fri-
day’s heat races
advanced Michi-
gan
to
Satur-
day’s semifinals,
where all three of the Wolverines’
crews — first varsity eight, second
varsity eight and first varsity four
— placed in the top five in their
respective heats.
These performances were good
for entry for all three crews in Sun-
day’s petite finals to determine sev-
enth through 12th place overall, but
failed to put any in the grand final.
The first varsity eight posted the
strongest showing for Michigan on
Sunday, finishing second (6:27.251)
behind Brown in its heat and eighth
overall.
The
second-place
finishers
fought hard to maintain their
standing throughout the race,
especially after a late challenge
from Washington State.
“I thought our varsity eight had
a good race this morning,” said
Michigan coach Mark Rothstein.
“We were disappointed not to get
into the grand
final, but finish-
ing second in
the second-level
final, I thought
it was a good
race.”
Despite
the
weekend’s dis-
appointments,
Rothstein
has
high
hopes
for the future
of his young team. With only
four seniors, this year’s squad
improved steadily throughout the
year.
The young rowers not only
helped give the Wolverines their
15th top-10 finish, but also gained
valuable experience that will pro-
vide a solid foundation for next
season.
“The vast majority of this team
will be back next year, and I think
this is something we can build
on,” Rothstein said. “For a lot of
our rowers, this was their first
time racing at NCAA’s. So having
been through it now, I think that’s
going to help us a lot next year.”
The second varsity eight, made
up of mostly underclassmen, fought
a hard back-and-forth race with a
late surge. The crew boasted two
of the fastest 500-meter splits in
the heat in the second half of the
race as it propelled to a fight for sec-
ond place before ultimately falling
back for a fourth-place finish in its
heat and a 10th-place overall finish
(6:36.280).
Michigan’s first varsity four
also recorded a fourth-place fin-
ish in its race and a 10th-place
overall finish (7:30.335) after
coming off the starting line in
fourth place and challenging Cal-
ifornia and Stanford for second
place throughout.
Though the Wolverines raced
hard and pulled together some
close races, they simply weren’t
at their best during the weekend’s
regatta and didn’t show the same
success that they did at the Big
Ten Tournament.
“We didn’t peak well here,”
Rothstein said. “We seemed to
peak at Big Tens, and that was a
little disappointing.”
Rugby finishes
fifth at Nationals
By LELAND MITCHINSON
Daily Sports Writer
Going into the Collegiate
Rugby Championship this week-
end, the Michigan rugby team
had the goal of a top-eight finish
for the second year in a row.
The Wolverines put on an
impressive performance on their
way to achieving that goal and
taking fifth.
Beginning the tournament in a
pool with Arkansas State, UCLA
and Texas, Michigan opened
play against Arkansas State with
the rugby community watching
to see if its success from the year
before was anything more than a
one-hit wonder.
“Last year was considered a
fluke that we made it there,” said
Michigan coach Brandon Sparks.
“This year we were largely dis-
credited
by
almost every-
one
in
the
rugby media.”
Concerns
that the team
would
not
be
able
to
reproduce
its
success
due to a weak
conference
schedule and
injuries going into the tourna-
ment seemed to be legitimate
after Michigan lost to the Red
Wolves, 17-5.
However,
the
Wolverines
bounced back and showed that
they can play at the highest level,
leaning on their defense in their
17-12 victory over UCLA and
their 29-10 defeat of Texas.
Michigan added some good
offensive play throughout the
tournament to go with their stout
defense, with senior Sequoyah
Burke-Combs finishing pool play
as the second-leading tri scorer
in the tournament.
The Wolverines had the mis-
fortune of having to face the
two-time
defending
national
champions, California, in the
quarterfinals and the Michigan
team was simply outmatched,
falling 31-0. Despite the big
loss, the Wolverines were able
to bounce back from a poor first
half to limit the Golden Bears to
a single tri in the second.
Cal would go on to win their
third championship in a row
with a 17-12 overtime win over
Kutztown.
“Cal has the best collection of
rugby talent in America,” Sparks
said. “Where we recruit largely
from the general student body,
they are a varsity program, so
they can bring players in that are
rugby-specific.”
Michigan’s rugby club has a
long history, though the college-
specific team did not begin until
2000, and the team has only been
playing the seven-on-seven ver-
sion of the sport competitively
for two years.
“Most of these teams have
had legitimate sevens programs
for 10-plus years,” Sparks said.
“There is a big learning curve
with sevens because it is a lot
different than
the traditional
game
of
fif-
teens.”
Though the
team is rela-
tively
young,
there is a strong
culture around
the program.
“It
starts
with the sport,”
Sparks
said.
“There are no true superstars in
the sport. There are good ath-
letes that are made to excel in
their environment because of
their teammates. The sport is the
foundation of it all.
“From there it is the players
themselves, the level of account-
ability that they hold themselves
to both on and off the field sets
that standard, on time, be posi-
tive, don’t do anything to embar-
rass the shirt or your last name …
it’s the players themselves con-
stantly trying to be better on and
off the field.”
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Michigan’s first varsity eight had Michigan’s strongest showing at the NCAA Championships, taking second in the nation.
10
Thursday, June 4, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
“The vast
majority of this
team will be
back next year.”
“Last year was
considered a
fluke that we
made it here.”
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