April 7, 2001

Watch the Tar Heels mount their comeback

SAN DIEGO, Calif.--Competing at the San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay, the UNC varsity eight advanced to Sunday's grand final with a thrilling victory in the first California Cup heat on Saturday morning.

The Tar Heels started out strong and within 500 meters had worked their way out to a boat-length lead on the field, with the University of San Diego right beside them and Southern Methodist racing strong a couple of lanes over.

With about 500 meters to go in the race, however, one of the UNC rowers caught a boat-stopping crab (meaning that her oar got stuck in the water) and the Carolina boat came to a dead stop. San Diego and SMU quickly passed by and the Tar Heels found themselves a length down with their boat at a standstill.

They brought the boat up to speed within five strokes and started an amazing sprint down the homestretch. In 30 strokes, the UNC boat went from third place to a photo finish, winning the heat with a time of 6:49.20. San Diego was right behind at 6:49.45 and SMU came in third in 6:50.26. The top two finishers advance on to Sunday's grand final, scheduled for 1:40 p.m. PT. "The team is in great spirits," UNC coach Joel Furtek said after the race. "The conditions were very rough-it's cold and rainy and there was a strong tailwind-and the team did a great job of dealing with that, as well as some drama thrown into the race." Joining UNC and San Diego in the grand final will be Tennessee (winner of the second heat in 6:45.57), Kansas State (second in the second heat in 6:47.17), Tulsa (winner of the third heat in 6:47.29) and Gonzaga (second in the third heat in 6:52.48).

"We're looking forward to Sunday's grand final," Furtek said. "There's going to be some good racing, no question."