The week has finally arrived: selected rowing programs will compete at the 2024 NCAA rowing championship, held May 31 – June 2 at East Fork/ Harsha Lake in Bethel, Ohio. This championship is composed of 22 teams, eleven of these were awarded automatic qualification and the remaining slots were filled with at-large selections. Teams who will be going head-to-head this weekend include the likes of Stanford, Texas, Washington, Princeton, and many more of the top programs in the country. While others will have has their hearts set on achieving qualification and topping the petite finals. Get ready for some fast racing as this is the championship everyone has been waiting for…
Here are our Division 1 Varsity Eight B and C final predictions:
University of Pennsylvania:
Penn, ranked 11th in the CRCA poll, have made a comeback this season, finishing second in the Varsity Eight Grand Final race at the Ivy Championships this year, ahead of both Yale and Brown. They will be looking to post their fastest times this season having made impressive progress in just these past few weeks. How they fare against all the top programmes in the country will be interesting to watch but they are definitely in contention to make a statement this year, eager to improve from their placing last year.
Syracuse University:
The Varsity eight came second in the B-final of NCAA’s last year, and again Syracuse has shown much promise this year, eager to improve from the previous year’s results.Confidently winning the Atlantic Coast Conference and ranked 10th in the CRCA coaches’poll, Syracuse are a crew to watch this weekend, their varsity eight ready and eager to put up a fight to secure a spot in these competitive finals.
University of Michigan:
Ranked 9th in the CRCA coaches poll, Michigan came third last year in the NCAA B-final. This year they secured their automatic qualification by dominating the Big Ten Conference Rowing Championships, ahead of Indiana and Rutgers. Their 1V dual race against Texas early in the season was tight as they crossed the finish line only 5 seconds behind one of the fastest programs in the US. They will have trained hard to close this margin and gain more speed throughout the season as they hope to put out their best performance this weekend.
Virginia University:
14th in the CRCA coaches poll, Virginia have made great progress this season, having confidently gained an at large selection. They came second at the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Varsity Eight Grand Final serving as the tiebreaker between Syracuse and Virginia to determine the overall winner of this conference. Even though Syracuse took the win, Virginia were not far behind, and they promise very close racing this weekend as they look to put out their fastest performances in the season and close the margins.
Duke University:
Currently ranked 16th in the CRCA coaches’ poll, Duke gained an at-large bid into the NCAA championships. They promisingly finished third at the Atlantic Coast Conference, behind Syracuse and Virginia. At the Lake Wheeler Invitational, Duke’s Varsity Eight crossed the finish line in third place. They also showed strong results in the Big 10 Invitational with a second-place finish.
Other crews to watch include Indiana University, Rutgers University, Ohio State University, and Northeastern University on the final stage of the 2024 collegiate women’s rowing season.
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