Rowing to Compete at Head of the Grand

Oct. 13, 2017

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State rowing team is set to participate in the Head of the Grand Regatta, held on the Grand River in Lansing, Michigan on Sunday.

MSU head coach Matt Weise is looking to the Regatta as a strong measuring stick of the progress his team has made so far this fall season.

"This race really started as a way to get all of the Michigan schools together; so there's a lot of club teams," said head coach Matt Weise. "Eastern Michigan and us are the two varsity teams that are there. For us, we just get to really put into practice on the race course what we've been doing every day. Is the race plan working? Is our new technical expertise working? They get to test it all out when they're a little more nervous than the typical practice day and that's really what it's for."

The Spartans will compete in three total events with 16 entries. The Spartans will have five boats compete in the varsity fours as well as eight singles racing in the women's single boat race. In addition, the Green and White will be represented by three boats in the women's varsity eights Sunday afternoon.

Six schools will field more than 78 total men's and women's entries for Sunday's collegiate racing, including the MSU men's club team.

This weekend's head racing will give MSU's varsity eight some extra preparation for next weekend, when it heads to the Head of the Charles Regatta. The Head of the Charles is perhaps the world's most famous and prominent head race. Held in Cambridge, Mass., the Head of the Charles includes rowers of all ages, abilities, and affiliations and features the best college crews in competition with Olympic-level athletes from the United States and other countries.

To round out the fall season, the Spartans novices will host Michigan on Oct. 28 in East Lansing before the varsity heads to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in a race against host Ohio State, Indiana and Syracuse.

For more information on this weekend's events, including a full list of events for the high school races on Saturday, visit the Head of the Grand website here.

Head of the Grand
Racing Schedule - Sunday, Oct. 15

9:15 a.m. - Women's Varsity 4+

9:30 a.m. - Men's 2-/2x

9:35 a.m. - Men's 1x

10:05 a.m. - Men's Varsity 4+

10:15 a.m. - Women's 1x

10:25 a.m. - Women's 2-/2x

10:45 a.m. - Men's Novice 8+

11:00 a.m. - Women's Novice 8+

-----Lunch Break-----

12:15 p.m. - Men's Varsity 8+

12:25 p.m. - Women's Novice 4+