May 28, 2008

PDF of Complete MSU Rowing NCAA Championship Notes

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Head coach Matt Weise
Senior Kate Burdick
Junior Sarah Schmidt

THIS WEEKEND AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Having claimed the Central Sprints and Big Ten Championship titles, the Spartans enter the NCAA Championships as the sixth-ranked team in the nation.

This weekend's (May 30-June 1) NCAA Championships will be held on Lake Natoma at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center in Sacramento, Calif. The Aquatic Center, in conjunction with Nimbus Flats State Park, is the established site of every major west coast championship for high school and collegiate rowing. Every year the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships (WIRA), Pacific-10 Conference Championships, and California Junior Rowing Championships are held in consecutive weekends at this site.

Lake Natoma, in northeastern Sacramento County, and part of the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area is a peaceful sanctuary surrounded by bustling suburbia. Four recently completed projects at Lake Natoma have transformed the park into a popular destination for both the community and visitors: The Nimbus Flat State Park includes the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, Nimbus Dam, Folsom South Canal Recreation Trail and the Nimbus Powerplant.

Official NCAA Rowing Championship Site

Michigan State head coach Matt Weise - along with Joanna Brown, Kate Burdick and Anne Cowan - is familiar with the park and the lake as the 2005 NCAA Championships also took place on Lake Natoma. Brown, Burdick and Cowan were competing freshman in 2005.

Along with MSU, two other Big Ten schools received bids to the 2008 Championships - Ohio State and Wisconsin - while defending national champion Brown also appears among the qualifying programs. Rounding out the final qualifying teams are California, Harvard, Princeton, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Washington State and Yale. The field also contains at-large varsity eight crews from Clemson, Michigan, Southern California and Stanford.

10 OUT OF 11 AIN'T BAD
MSU's selection marks the 10th appearance by the Spartans in the national championship regatta. The Spartans' last appearance was in 2006, when MSU captured a sixth-place team finish, its highest in school history.

Michigan State first received an at-large bid to the championships in its inaugural year as a varsity program (1998), and has competed every year since, with the exception of 2007.

The Spartans have been invited as a team eight times (1999, `00, `02, `03, `04, `05, `06, `08), while receiving at-large bids for just a varsity eight boat twice (`98 and `01).

PADDING THE RESUME
Michigan State's head coach Matt Weise was named the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's (CRCA) Central Coach of the Year, as announced by the CRCA on May 21. The award is the second for Weise in his career, having also nabbed the regional honor in 2005.

Weise, also the Big Ten Coach of the Year, led the Spartans to their second Big Ten title in school history in 2008, as well as their first-ever Central regional title.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE
The CRCA announced its 2008 regional honors on May 27, as five Spartans were named to the 2008 CRCA Central Region Teams, including First Team honorees Joanna Brown, Kate Burdick, Anne Cowan and Katie Bitz. Emily Regan was named to the Second Team.

In the CRCA academic honors, seven MSU rowers were selected as 2008 CRCA Scholar Athletes, including Brown, Burdick, Lauren Gamble, Megan Kursik, Sarah Schmidt, Victoria Woodard and Tamara Yantovsky.

Additionally, the following MSU rowers were named to the 2008 Academic All-Big Ten Spring Honor Roll: Bitz, Brown, Burdick, Cowan, Nancy Diehl, Shannon Dunn, Amanda Dunnill, Lauren Gamble, Kelley Goldblatt, Brianna Groubert, Sarah Kreft, Megan Kursik, Ashley Lichota, Alex Maibusch, Ashley Peach, Emily Regan, Amanda Ruhno, Sarah Schmidt, Kate Taylor, Emily Topping, Ashley Wenneman, Victoria Woodard and Tamara Yantovsky.

BURDICK GIVEN NATIONAL HONOR
Earlier in May, Burdick became a two-time first team member of the CoSIDA Academic All-District team, having earned the honor this year and in 2007. She owns a 3.99 GPA as a kinesiology major.

SPARTANS LAND FIRST-EVER CENTRAL TITLE
The Spartans claimed the Central Region title with 371 points - their most ever at the regional event - on May 18 at the South/Central Sprints on Sunday in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on Melton Hill Lake. Virginia claimed the South and overall titles (407 points), while MSU tied its best finish at regionals with the second-place finish, marking the third time MSU took the runner-up spot. MSU was also second overall in 1999 and 2000.

The varsity four and open four crews earned first place finishes, and MSU's varsity eight second-place finish chalked up 189 points towards the Spartans' overall score. The second varsity eight finished sixth in the Grand Finals, while the novice eight placed first in the Petite Finals.