Racing Begins Friday at NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships

May 23, 2012

PRINCETON, N.J. -As America commemorates the hard work and dedication of its service members this Memorial Day weekend, NCAA Division I, II, and III rowers from across the country look to celebrate their seasons with national titles.

Hosted by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Rider University, the 2012 NCAA Rowing Championships are scheduled to take place May 25-27 on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J.

On May 15, the NCAA announced the 30 teams competing this weekend in the women’s rowing championships for their respective divisions.  

The Division I field is composed of 16 teams including last year’s national champion, Brown University. The Bears will be attempting to win their eighth national title in the 15-year history of the NCAA Division I Women’s Rowing Championship. Also competing are crews from California, Cornell, Harvard, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, Southern California, UCLA, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Yale. In the most recent CRCA/USRowing Coaches Poll, California held the number one position, while Michigan ranked second. Princeton, which won the varsity eight last year, hopes to have a strong showing on its home turf, training just miles from Lake Mercer.

Humboldt State, Mercyhurst, Nova Southeastern and the seven-time reigning national champions from Western Washington will compete for the Division II title. In addition to the four schools in the D-II field, Barry and Central Oklahoma will race at-large eights. Leading up to the NCAA Championship, Division II schools had the opportunity to scope out some of their competition at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa., two weekends ago. Mercyhurst, Nova Southeastern and Central Oklahoma had the top three finishes in the Dad Vail Division II varsity eight final, with Barry taking fifth. Following a competitive weekend of racing, Western Washington moved to first in the most recent CRCA rankings to bump Humboldt State into second. This year will be the 10th NCAA Division II Women’s Rowing Championship.
 
The Division III field is composed of eight teams. Rowers from the six-time defending D-III national champions, Williams, will compete against teams from Bates, Marietta, Trinity (Conn.), Wellesley and William Smith. The six teams also will race against the Coast Guard and Puget Sound at-large eights. Williams maintained its year-long hold on first-place in the CRCA rankings on May 15, after winning its seventh consecutive ECAC Invitational Championship title to an earn the automatic bid. Having a strong season with a late April win at the 2012 Liberty Rowing Championship, William Smith hopes to rob Williams of its eighth title since the Division III NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship started in 2002.

    
The first races of the championship are set to begin Friday at 8 a.m. The morning will consist of heats for all three divisions. The repechages, or second-chance races, for the D-I and D-III schools will take place during the afternoon.

Saturday will begin with the semifinal races for the D-I crews that qualify on Friday. Division II racing will resume with the repechages for the eights and fours midmorning. Beginning at 11 a.m. and continuing the remainder of the afternoon, the D-III finals will occur. The day will end with the Division III awards’ ceremony.
    
The weekend of racing will culminate on Sunday starting with the D-II finals. The D-I finals will follow. The day will end with the crowning of the 2012 NCAA Women’s Division I and Division II Women’s Rowing Champions.

For a complete schedule and live results, visit NCAA.com/rowing

Schedule of races for Friday, May 25

8:00 a.m.  DIII-I Eights Heat I
8:15 a.m.  DIII-I Eights Heat 2
8:30 a.m. DIII-II Eights Heat 1
8:45 a.m. DIII-II Eights Heat 2
9:00 a.m. DI-I Eights Heat 1
9:15 a.m. DI-I Eights Heat 2
9:30 a.m. DI-I Eights Heat 3
9:45 a.m. DI-II Eights Heat 1
10:00 a.m. DI-II Eights Heat 2
10:15 a.m. DI-II Eights Heat 3
10:30 a.m. DI-Fours Heat 1
10:45 a.m. DI-Fours Heat 2
11:00 a.m. DI-Fours Heat 3
11:15 a.m. DII-Eights Heat 1
12:00 p.m. DII-Eights Heat 2
12:15 p.m. DII-Fours Heat 1
12:30 p.m. DII-Fours Heat 2
3:00 p.m. DIII-II Eights Repechage
3:15 p.m. DIII-I Eights Repechage
3:30 p.m. DI-I Eights Repechage
3:45 p.m. DI-II Eights Repechage
4:00 p.m. DI-Fours Repechage

USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing’s official suppliers include Boathouse Sports, Vespoli, WinTech, Filippi, Croker Oars, Rudy Project, Concept2, Nielsen Kellerman, PowerHTV and Ludus Tours. USRowing also receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors and partners ANXeBusiness Corp, Voxer, EZ Dock, EMCVenues, The Perfect SNAQUE and INDi. For more information, visit www.usrowing.org. USRowing has created The Row to London to engage sponsors leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games, with proceeds going to help ensure the U.S. team’s success. Opportunities also exist to partner with America Rows – supporting diversity initiatives and adaptive programs. For more information, please contact Beth Kohl at beth@usrowing.org.

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Monica Worsley, USRowing Communications Intern

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