May 12, 2001

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.--North Carolina's novice eight earned a spot in Sunday's grand final at the Lexus South/Central Sprints by claiming first place in Saturday's repechage, the afternoon semifinals race. After finishing second to Michigan--the only squad to beat that UNC boat this season--in their morning heat, the Tar Heels pulled out an impressive win in the afternoon.

Throughout the repechage race, Carolina was in a tight battle with Iowa, which mounted a strong push in the last 750 meters of the race and drew ahead by two seats before the Tar Heels answered. "Carolina turned it up by about 14 notches," said UNC coach Joel Furtek, who watched his novice eight go on to win by a comfortable margin. "This is a great result."

Racing at Melton Hill Lake, UNC finished in a time of 7:16.0, followed by Iowa (7:19.0), Michigan State (7:25.8), Notre Dame (7:26.2), Cincinnati (7:29.4) and Tennessee (7:33.8).

Joining the Tar Heels in the grand final, which is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, will be Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa.

Carolina's other boats also put in strong appearances, but didn't come away with as much to celebrate as the novices. The second varsity eight finished fifth in its morning heat after dueling Texas to a photo finish. Carolina battled back from sixth place and turned up the speed to catch the Longhorns. UNC was announced as the fourth-place finisher on the water, but Texas's official time was 7:17.6 to UNC's was 7:17.9.

The Tar Heel second varsity eight also finished fifth its the afternoon repechage in a time of 7:19.5. Michigan State was first in 7:00.8 and Notre Dame took second in 7:04.7 to advance to the grand final. Joining Carolina in the petite final were Kansas (7:09.0) and Tulsa (7:18.7). Cincinnati was sixth in 7:22.3.

The Tar Heel varsity eight finished fifth in its morning heat and failed to advance to the semifinals to battle for a spot in the grand or petite finals. Instead, UNC will race in the C final, which is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. on Sunday.

UNC raced seat-for-seat with Tennessee through the first 1,000 meters before UT gained an edge and extended it. Michigan won the heat in 6:45.2, followed by Texas (6:50.0), Notre Dame (6:54.1), Tennessee (6:59.2) and UNC (7:01.9). "It was a good row, a good race, but just shy of what we needed to advance to the semifinals," Furtek said. In the C final, the Tar Heels will join Southern Methodist, Indiana, Cincinnati and Clemson.