Rowing Takes Fifth at 2002 NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
June 2, 2002
Indianapolis, Ind.- The Ohio State first varsity 8 crossed the finish line 15 hundredths of a second behind California to take fourth in the first varsity 8 Grand Final and fifth overall at the 2002 NCAA Championships. The team finished at six minutes, 41.1 seconds, behind Washington (6:36.4), 2002 NCAA Team Champions Brown (6:39.9) and Cal (6:41.0). Had the Buckeyes overcome California and taken third in the race, they would have found themselves on the championship platform in third, instead they finish with 42 points overall and settle for fifth.
“When its literally the blink of an eye between third and fifth in the country, its hard to be on the wrong side of that, but if it wasn’t us, it would have been Cal,” Andy Teitelbaum, Ohio State head coach said. “It would have been a good day to come in third but you’re not an inappreciably different program (and) you’re not different athletes or people because you’re 15 hundredths of a second slower.”
The first varsity 8 finishes the season 21-5 with its only losses before the championships coming against eventual 2002 First Varsity 8 National Champion Washington and rival Michigan.
In the Petite Finals of the second varsity 8 competition, the Ohio State boat rebounded from a disappointing semifinal race Saturday with a strong pull and a second-place finish. The team got off to a rough start, sitting in fifth after 500 meters. The boat fought from there, slowly closing the gap over the remaining duration of the race. The second varsity 8 cut Princeton’s lead from 2.2 seconds to 1.2 seconds between the 1,000 and 1,500 meter mark as it picked up into its sprint. The finish was also close with Princeton (6:54.6) edging the Buckeyes by 0.5 seconds to win the race.
The first varsity 4 made up for frustrating races Friday and Saturday with a strong showing in the Petite Finals Sunday. The team found itself in fourth after 500 meters, two seconds behind the leader. After 1,000 meters, the team pushed past Washington into the third slot and continued to gain ground passing Princeton with 500 meters remaining. The boat finished the race and its 2002 season with a second-place finish in the Petite Finals with a time of 7:52.0 behind only California (7:48.6).
The 2002 season concluded for the Ohio State rowing team Sunday on a bittersweet note. While the team failed to improve on its fourth-place finish at the 2001 championships, the Buckeyes did wrap up an outstanding season which saw several significant victories and the program’s first Big Ten championship. Teitelbaum said that he is proud of the season his team had.
“It was a fantastic season,” Teitelbaum said. “We’ve never had our first boat ranked as high. We’ve never gotten our first varsity 8 into the Grand Finals of the NCAA championships. Those are pretty important things to do if you’re going to legitimately compete for a national championship. You win a conference championship, you win several events at the central championship and you’re one of a few players as a team at a national championship. You can’t ask for more than that.”
FINAL STANDINGS Brown 67 Washington 63 California 44 Virginia 43 Ohio State 42 Yale 42 Michigan 40 Princeton 40 Michigan State 29 Stanford 26 Harvard 19 Syracuse 13
DIVISION I FINALS RESULTS, SUNDAY (points earned in parenthesis) 10:00 – First Varsity 4, Petite Final California 7:48.6 (6) Ohio State 7:52.0 (5) Princeton 7:52.3 (4) Washington 7:54.5 (3) Syracuse 7:59.7 (2) Stanford 7:59.8 (1)
10:15 – First Varsity 4, Grand Final Brown 7:42.2 (12) Virginia 7:44.9 (11) Yale 7:46.8 (10) Michigan 7:47.6 (9) Michigan State 7:48.6 (8) Harvard 7:49.4 (7)
11:00 – Second Varsity 8, Petite Final Princeton 6:54.6 (12) Ohio State 6:55.1 (10) California 6:58.9 (8) Harvard 6:59.8 (6) Stanford 7:00.1 (4) Syracuse 7:03.2 (2)
11:15 – Second Varsity 8, Grand Final Washington 6:46.4 (24) Brown 6:48.2 (22) Virginia 6:49.4 (20) Michigan State 6:50.9 (18) Michigan 6:54.6 (16) Yale 6:56.8 (14)
11:30 – First Varsity 8, Petite Final Yale 6:40.0 (18) Southern California 6:43.7 N/A Michigan 6:44.3 (15) Virginia 6:44.9 (12) Syracuse 6:45.7 (9) Harvard 6:47.5 (3)
11:45 – First Varsity 8, Grand Final Washington 6:36.4 (36) Brown 6:39.9 (33) California 6:41.0 (30) Ohio State 6:41.1 (27) Princeton 6:44.5 (24) Stanford 6:52.5 (21)
