Rowing: Second Varsity 4+ Seeded Third for Lexus Central Sprints

May 9, 2000

OAK RIDGE, TN – The Clemson second varsity 4+ has been seeded third and the varsity 4+ and the novice 8+ earned the fourth seeds for this weekend’s Lexus Central Sprints on Melton Hill Lake.

The Tigers’ second varsity 4+ won the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships last month, beating a field that included Tennessee, Duke, University of Charleston, Tampa and the College of Charleston. Duke is seeded seventh of the eight entries while Tennessee earned the eighth seed for the weekends Lexus Central Sprints. The second varsity 4+ beat top seeded Michigan State April 22 in Lansing, MI by nearly 18 seconds and was second to Virginia at the ACC Championships April 29 in Charlottesville, VA.

The varsity 4+, which drew the fourth seed, has won four of five regattas this season, including the SIRA Championships. Clemson beat Duke, the Clemson club team, Florida Tech, Tulane and Stetson. Duke is seeded eighth of the 11 teams entered in the varsity 4+ competition.

Clemson’s novice 8+ also earned the fourth seed behind Duke, Louisville and Notre Dame. Duke and Louisville beat the Tigers at the SIRA Championships, but the Orange and Purple did finish ahead of Notre Dame at that meet. Clemson also beat 10th-seeded Indiana and 11th-seeded Miami (FL) at the SIRA Championship and has a win over fifth-seeded Michigan State. In head-to-head competition on Lake Hartwell on April 1, Louisville beat the Tigers by nearly 12 seconds. Clemson’s novice 8+ was undefeated a year ago, the first year of the program.

The Tigers’ second varsity 8+ is seeded fifth of 13 while the varsity 8+ will be the seventh of 16 seeds. Clemson is ranked behind Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Iowa in the varsity 8+ and is ranked behind Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Tulsa and Kansas. The Tigers’ varsity 8+ was second at the SIRA Championships, just .3 seconds (about four inches) behind Tulsa.

The top two teams from this region advance to the NCAA Championships May 26-28 on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ. Teams not finishing in the top two spots will be competing for an addition two at-large bids at other regionals around the nation.

Seedings for the Lexus Central Sprints< May 13-14, 2000 Melton Hill Lake, Oak Ridge, TN

Novice 8+ 1- Duke 2- Louisville 3- Notre Dame 4- CLEMSON 5- Michigan State 6- Iowa 7- Kansas State 8- Michigan 9-So Methodist 10- Indiana 11-Miami 12-Ohio State 13-Tennessee

Varsity 4+ 1-Michigan 2-Michigan State 3-Iowa 4-CLEMSON 5-Ohio State 6-Kansas 7-North Carolina 8- Duke 9-Notre Dame 10-Indiana 11-Tennessee

Second Varsity 4+ 1-Michigan State 2- Michigan 3-CLEMSON 4-Iowa 5-Ohio State 6-Notre Dame 7-Duke 8- Tennessee

Second Varsity 8+ 1-Michigan 2-Michigan State 3-Ohio State 4-Iowa 5-CLEMSON 6-Kansas 7-Notre Dame 8-North Carolina 9-Miami 10-Tulsa 11-Kansas State 12-Tennessee 13-Creighton

Varsity 8+ 1-Michigan 2-Michigan State 3-Ohio State 4-Iowa 5-Tulsa 6-Kansas 7-CLEMSON 8-North Carolina 9-Texas 10-Miami 11-Notre Dame 12-Kansas State 13-Tennessee 14-Barry 15-Creighton 16-Murray State