NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships 2024 – Favourites (Programs 1-8) Preview

The 2024 NCAAs are just around the corner. 22 teams will soon make the trip to Ohio to compete in the final regatta of the US collegiate spring season on the women’s side. Each will bring 25 athletes, enough to field two 8s and one 4+, with two spares. At the NCAA regatta, every position counts in every boat class. The varsity 8 is weighted the heaviest, but each point gained from moving up a place in any boat can make or break a position in the team trophy. In recent years, there has been a tie-breaker to decide top spots — a tie-breaker which is based on the result of the respective programs’ varsity 8. All 22 programs right now will be putting the finishing touches on lineups, riggings, and race plans before making their way to the midwest US. 

In the 27 year history of the NCAA regatta, only UW, Brown, and Princeton have attended them all. Who, then, are the top contenders to look out for this year?

University of Texas

After last weekend’s ninth consecutive Big-12 sweep, the Longhorns are sitting poised for a successful weekend in Ohio. They have yet to sweep at the NCAAs in their past two victories, but with the varsity seeded first, 2v first, and 1v4 second, sweeping the regatta is definitely in their target, and definitely within their reach. 

Texas has a varisty crew full of U23 athletes and world racing experience with the likes of two-time U23 gold medalist Anna Jensen and Danish stroke Mette Køchs-Nielsen, to name just two out of many with impressive rowing CVs — including previous NCAA wins. This incredible racing experience will come to their benefit this weekend as they strive to give Dave O’Neil another win to add to the collection.

Stanford University

Defending champions Stanford will come with a chip on their shoulder being ranked second to rivals Texas. The only time Stanford has fallen this season has been to the #1 team themselves, Texas, at the Longhorn invitational in April. Stanford will, of course, want to upset this loss, and end victorious over Texas, but would this result have knocked their confidence? The varsity eight, like Texas, is filled with experience, packed with U23 medallists, such as GB’s Lettie Cabot, the Netherland’s Iris Klok, and the US’s Belle Battistoni. The V8 is currently seeded second, their 2v at third, and V4+ at first, which renders all boats the top seed in their respective heats, positioning them for a weekend of success immediately. 

University of Tennessee

Tennessee come into this race ranked the highest their program has seen in recent decades. Notably, in her first season as head coach, Kim Cupini was named the Big 12 coach of the year, as the program has simply excelled under her guidance. This is Tennessee’s tenth NCAA appearance in program history. At their most recent appearance, the Vols ended 17th at the 2021 regatta. This season, the NCAA boats have collectively posted a record of 96-4, with the varsity only falling to Texas. However, they have yet to race any of the other top-ranked teams, so this ranking may largely be based on indirect racing. As Tennessee has historically not been in this mix, will this lack of experience come to play? The Lady Vols will not have really been on these teams’ radars, so it will be interesting to see how both Tennessee and other teams react to this new player. The grand finals at the NCAAs are close races and tough battles, and Tennessee will hope they have the strength to contend (and maybe beat) some big names to make a name for themselves. 

Princeton University

Princeton come into this regatta ranked a debatable fourth, having surely showed enough strength and prowess to be ranked third, where they have sat for most of the season. Despite this, their performance at the Ivy League championship at easily one of the most competitive conferences makes them one of the top contenders for the varsity eight trophy, especially after an undefeated season. Last year, Princeton finished third in the varsity, and will hope to better this result even if the odds are such for them to finish again in the bronze position. Interestingly, Princeton seem to struggle with depth — while their 1v consistently performs, their 2v can be hit or miss. Can they turn this fate around in 2024?

Yale University

Yale have once again moved up into fifth, the position they ended up in at both of the past two NCAAs. Yale always have some impressive performances at this regatta and hopefully this weekend will continue this trend. Yale have not had their most ideal season this spring in terms of results, but, in the 50th year of their program, are looking as steady and strong as ever. The ones to watch are the 2v – a boat nearly full of first-years and sophomores – but this is a boat class which Yale has excelled in previously. They will look to capture another trophy in this boat as they did in 2022. 

Only six of Yale’s current athletes have competed at the NCAAs, after they graduated a class of 17 last year and are down three more athletes to the Greek, Paraguay, and Canada Olympic and World Cup squads. However, the fresh young energy might invigorate them as they attempt to outperform their seeds and ranking at fifth. I cannot wait to see what the Bulldogs can do in this last race of the spring.  Go, Yale, Go. 

Univeristy of California, Berkeley

Cal have had somewhat of a comeback this year after a few seasons to forget for them. In 2023, they finished eighth overall and 12th in the varsity, so a #6 ranking is definitely a step forward should they perform at or above this ranking. Their varsity is seeded #5, and a grand final performance would be great for this program. 

At the Pac-12s, the Bears finished second as a team, their best performance since 2018 (the last year which saw them win the NCAAs as well). With this momentum behind them, Cal will be confident going into the weekend. As their varsity was only six seconds behind Stanford at the Pac-12s, I’d quite like to see them be a challenger to break into the top five, perhaps upsetting some predicted wins. 

University of Washington

University of Washington always impress at the NCAAs, although being ranked seventh overall and tenth in the varsity is quite a bit lower than they have been, and quite a bit lower than they’d like to be. Coach Yasmin Farooq has coached incredibly successful UW teams in her eight year tenure, including 2017 and 2019’s famous NCAA sweep. They are the only team to ever sweep, proving how difficult the feat is. 

This spring, however, UW have had a new set of challenges and races lost, losing to Cal in the Cal Dual and Stanford at the San Diego Crew Classic. They are perhaps hindered by such a short regular season, with only three regular season races excluding their class day regatta and Windermere Cup, which are contested within the squad itself and with a team outside of the NCAA, respectively. This year, Washington competed with the Italian team at the Windermere Cup and ended that weekend victorious. However, I wonder if they might be better off meeting more NCAA opponents throughout the season ahead of the championships. Nonetheless, the Huskies are always in full force at the championships weekend, and will hope to be back on the podium again. 

Brown University

Rounding out the top-eight favoured teams is Brown University out of Rhode Island. In the final poll ahead of the ultimate race, the Bears slipped from seventh to eighth, losing one spot to UW. This is not ideal for Brown, especially as two of their Ivy League opponents are favoured higher.

Historically, Brown seems to get tripped up during six-lane racing. Watching any race of theirs, the plan is evident: get out, base high, rattle the opponent enough to get in their heads and hope the margin is big enough. This reflects in this season’s successes and their previous Henley campaigns, but it doesn’t seem to cut it in these six-lane races. To this point, their 1v faltered at the Ivy League Championships — nine seconds to Princeton who finished first and five back from Yale in third — despite a relatively successful season. The 2v is poised to do well,  however, having outperformed their varsity at the conference championships. Might this be a season to forget for Brown? 

Prediction

Although Texas are the favourites, and I would quite like to see them win, Stanford will no doubt bring guts to the weekend to go for the win for the second year in a row. Of course, anything can happen, and lineups may change after the respective conference championships, so it is always up for grabs. Princeton might sneak a top-three finish in one of the boats, Yale always pulls out all stops for the weekend, and UW have historically had so much success at this regatta that they will throw everything they can to upset the top spot. Ultimately, Texas look poised to grab their third championship in four years. 

The 2024 NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship is May 31st – June 2nd, on Harsha Lake, in Bethel, Ohio, USA.

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