Oregon State
Intercollegiate Rowing Champ.
Varsity Eight Wins Level III Final, Finishes 13th Nationally
June 03, 2000 | Women's Rowing
June 3, 2000
CAMDEN, N.J. - - The Oregon State men's crew finished their season with a bang Saturday on the Cooper River at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships. The varsity eight cruised to victory in the Third Level Final to finish 13th in the nation. The freshman eight and varsity four capped off outstanding weekends at the IRAs, both finishing in the top four in the country. The varsity four took third in their Grand Final, while a fourth-place performance by the freshman eight made apparent a bright future for OSU rowing.
The varsity eight fought off any lingering disappointment from not making the Grand or Petite Finals and blasted the rest of the competition for an open-water win with a time of 5:52.0. Syracuse was second at 5:56.0.
"I'm really proud of these guys for the effort they put in this season as well as handling the disappointment of not making the Grand or Petite Finals," OSU coach Dave Reischman said. "They pushed all that aside in the final. A lot of crews may have gone out and rowed a token race, but they made up their minds to dominate it and send a message about Oregon State."
The freshman eight, facing rough conditions, crossed the line fourth in 5:51.71, within a foot of the Wisconsin boat that finished in 5:51.62, and within a second of Washington's 5:51.04. The last time OSU raced with Washington, the freshmen lagged nine seconds behind the Huskies. California won the race in 5:46.85.
The varsity four plowed through choppy water to finish third in 6:46.28. Wisconsin captured the win with a time of 6:41.95, while Georgetown took second in 6:43.78.
Both the freshman eight and the varsity four made dramatic moves after the 1000-meter mark to break out of their last-place positions.
"They both did an exceptional job of refusing to back down and taking advantage of opportunities when they could," Reischman said. "The freshmen have made great improvements this year, and this was a tremendous accomplishment for the varsity four."
The varsity four had not rowed together as a group before the IRAs began on Thursday. The lineup for the varsity eight, from bow to stern, was Sam Bobek, Dan Willey, Mark Squire, Joey Hansen, Josh Inman, Kevin Mann, Scott Fortner, Andrew Jackson, and coxswain Emmy Gardner.
Rowing the freshman eight boat were Dan Hough, Steven Hyde, Mike Riffle, Max Coast-Vogt, Tyler Smith, Ryan Dillon, Brian Sinkbiel, Erik Dresser, and coxswain Kara Patteson.
Adam Hughes, Andy Dietrick, Nathan Pakish, Randell Embertson, and coxswain Josh Devlin made up the varsity four.
"We only had two seniors rowing - one in the varsity eight (Fortner) and one on the varsity four (Embertson) - so we'll have a lot of people back that are pretty excited for next year," Reischman said.
California won the varsity eight national championship with a time of 5:39.58 in the Grand Final.
RESULTS
VARSITY EIGHT GRAND FINAL (PLACES 1-6): 1. California 5:39.58, 2. Brown 5:44.50, 3. Princeton 5:44.87, 4. Washington 5:48.47, 5. Temple 5:54.15, 6. Dartmouth 5:57.78.
PETITE FINAL (7-12): 1. Penn 5:48.61, 2. Wisconsin 5:49.21, 3. Cornell 5:53.34, 4. Navy 5:53.89, 5. Virginia 5:57.28, 6. Northeastern 6:02.29.
THIRD LEVEL FINAL (13-18): 1. Oregon State 5:52, 2. Syracuse 5:56, 3. Columbia 5:58.3, 4. Marist 5:59.82, 5. Michigan 5:59.87, 6. Stanford 6:06.2.
FOURTH LEVEL FINAL (19-21): 1. Boston University 5:59.72, 2. Purdue 6:03.63, 3. Rutgers 6:05.25.
VARSITY FOUR GRAND FINAL: 1. Wisconsin 6:41.95, 2. Georgetown 6:43.78, 3. Oregon State 6:46.28, 4. Cornell 6:49.77, 5. Penn 6:51.81, 6. Princeton 6:58.21.
FRESHMAN EIGHT GRAND FINAL: 1. California 5:46.85, 2. Washington 5:51.04, 3. Wisconsin 5:51.62, 4. Oregon State 5:51.71, 5. Princeton 5:54.73, 6. Brown 5:55.82.
