April 19, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Michigan State rowing entered Saturday's duals as the top program in Big Ten standings, and the Spartans maintained their position with two wins in Minneapolis, Minn., on the Mississippi River. MSU topped defending conference champion Minnesota in the morning, before breezing past Louisville in the afternoon.

"There were some really fast times, with huge a current and tailwinds," said head coach Matt Weise. "And all of the varsity boats went great from start to finish. They were almost all a length up at 500 and just pushed from there. We've been working on consistency, and we did a good job of that.

"We did a good job through out the entire regular season, now it's a matter of transfering that to tournament action."

The Spartans' varsity eight opened the day's competition with a five-second win over the Gopher's top boat, finishing at 5:44.5.

The varsity four followed suit with a six-second advantage over Minnesota, clocking in at 6:21.12.

The second varsity eight and second varsity four picked up two more wins for Michigan State. The 2V8 stroked past the Gophers with a 5:55.3 time, while the 2V4 posted an incredible win over Minnesota, beating the Gophers by nearly 14 seconds, finishing at 6:32.86.

MSU's first novice eight defeated Minnesota with a time of 5:57.4, while the second novice eight fell short at 6:21.7 compared to Minnesota's 6:15.0.

In the afternoon, the varsity eight picked up the session's first win, taking down Louisville 5:42.32 to 5:49.12, and the varsity four posted the day's largest margin of victory, crossing the finish line at 6:28.1 while UM finished at 6:49.0.

The second varsity four and eight boats continued to success as they posted wins over the Cardinals.

With the regular season schedule wrapped up, the Spartans will turn their attention to tournament races, starting with the Big Ten Championship on May 3 in Ann Arbor, Mich.