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Clemson Receives Third Consecutive NCAA Rowing Championship Bid

May 18, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson Rowing team received a bid to the NCAA Championships as announced Tuesday.

Clemson and Virginia are the only ACC teams in the 16-team Regatta that will be held in Sacramento, CA May 28-30. The other schools are California, Southern California, Michigan State, Washington, Washington State, Yale, Stanford, Brown, Michigan, Wisconsin, Princeton, UCLA, Tennessee and Ohio State.

This is the third consecutive year Clemson has been selected to participate in the NCAA Rowing Championships, the second consecutive year Clemson has competed as a full team. Clemson finished 12th last year as a team, and its Varsity 4+ won the National Championship.

This year’s team finished second at the ACC Championships and second in the South Region at last weekend’s Central Sprints in Oak Ridge, TN. Clemson is currently ranked 14th in the nation.

The Clemson rowing team is the fifth Clemson team to receive a team bid to an NCAA Championship this year. It joins the Clemson volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s tennis and golf teams in NCAA postseason play. The Clemson women’s tennis team is in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championships in Athens, GA this weekend.

Clemson had three rowers named to the All-ACC Rowing team in 2010, as Michelle Nance and Brittany Cummings were named for the second year in a row and Grace Wolff received her first honor.

“I am happy and excited for our team,” said Clemson Head Coach Richard Ruggieri. “We had to dig deep this year and the team made the decision to do this and that’s why we received a bid. I am proud of this team’s accomplishment. We have eight freshmen making the trip and that shows that our entire team has come together and worked extra hard in making this happen.

“This is the most challenging and rewarding year I have ever had in my coaching career. We didn’t find speed until late in the year and this really tested us. We need to continue to work hard and work together to find more speed and set up the right training and peak at the right time.

“At the NCAAs every team is good and we have to be at our best. The NCAA Championships are the real deal, and we are happy to be part of the NCAAs once again. This year was a defining year, as great things don’t just happen. We worked hard and worked together and we must continue this effort for us to be successful. I am impressed at what we have done, and we are committed to do our best,” said Ruggieri.

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