April 21, 2001

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.--In a full day of racing Saturday at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, three University of North Carolina boats finished among the top two in their heats and semifinals to advance on to Sunday's grand finals. The fourth UNC boat, the varsity eight, will compete in the petite final on Sunday.

Racing under sunny skies on Melton Hill Lake, the Tar Heels continued to receive strong performances from the novice rowers. Both novice boats won their morning heats and finished in the top two in their semifinals to earn spots in their respective grand finals. (The top two semifinal finishers advance to Sunday's grand finals to compete for spots 1-6, while the next two finishers go into the petite finals for spots 7-12.)

The novice four boat won its morning heat with a time of 8:37.26, nearly 20 seconds ahead of its closest competitor, and took second behind Rollins in the afternoon semifinal. Rollins finished in 8:42.44, while UNC came in at 9:00.04. The novice four grand final is scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

The novice eight won both its races for the day, finishing its morning heat in a time of 7:19.85 and crossing in 7:26.20 in the semifinal, ahead of Duke's time of 7:29.69. In that race, Carolina jumped out to an early advantage and, after Duke began to draw closer, pulled out to a boat-length lead in the final 700. The novice eight grand final is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. "We're very proud of the novices," UNC coach Joel Furtek said. "They continue to advance and we're very excited for them."

The second varsity eight finished second in its morning heat with a time of 7:15.57, behind Clemson's 7:10.28. The top two boats in each of the second varsity eight heats advanced directly to Sunday's grand final, which is set for 9:25 a.m.

The Tar Heel varsity eight led its morning heat early but could not respond to a challenge by Duke and finished second in a time of 7:06.75 to the Blue Devils' 6:57.96. After building another early lead in the semifinal race, UNC again watched its advantage slip away. Kansas State and Tennessee, battling for second place, both raced through the Tar Heels, who didn't have the strength to respond at the end. Kansas State finished in 7:09.61, Tennessee in 7:11.37 and UNC in 7:15.00. The third-place finish puts Carolina in the petite final Sunday at 10:10 a.m.