U.S. Collegiate Rowing #7 – Conference Championships Previews

With very little racing this week, most crews are focussed on their Championships in a week’s time. The only notable exception to this is Washington as they hosted crews from the Australian National Team on the Montlake Cut.

NCAA Women’s Division 1

Week 6 Polls

After the final week of regular season racing, there was very little movement on the polls this week. Harvard’s underwhelming results at Women’s Sprints had them slipping down to number 17 while Iowa and Oregon State’s strong performances at their respective invitationals on thew West Coast allowed them to re-enter the top twenty this week.

Windermere Cup

For this year’s Windermere cup #6 Washington hosted a crew representing Rowing Australia made up of first and second-year members of their Senior National team. In both the main event and the ‘Twilight Sprints’ the night before it was the Husky first eight (racing as ‘Washington Purple’) who crossed the finish line first with the Australians in second and the Second Varsity Eight (‘Washington Gold’) bringing up the rear.

IRA Heavyweight Men’s Division 1

Week 6 Polls

With the field so tight, any slight variation can cause teams to fall in the rankings, this was the case as Princeton’s slight underperformance in their win over Brown caused them to fall two spots. On the West Coast, Stanford rose up one spot after a close race against California. Further down the ranking, Temple fell significantly after their upset defeat in the Bergen Cup with La Salle and Columbia profiting from this.

Windermere Cup

In the men’s race #3 Washington hosted a similar Rowing Australia crew on the Montlake cut. The hosts came out on top as the Washington boat put more than eight seconds into their antipodean guests, a margin that will likely inspire confidence going forward into the business end of the season. 

Coming Up Next Weekend

Women’s Conference Championships

This weekend will play host to the all-important conference championships. In some conferences, winning will secure automatic qualification for the National Championships, while in others the competitors will need to demonstrate their strength for an ‘at-large’ bid to be invited.

In the former category there are three events happening together in Saratoga Spring, New York. Northeastern will be favourites to win their ninth consecutive Colonial Athletic Association title and Jacksonville look set to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference but the race for the Atlantic 10 title will be a much closer affair. George Washington and Rhode Island will both back themselves to come out on top while Duquesne will be trying to get involved as well. 

The only other conference champions that will be crowned on Friday will be in the Patriot League. Boston University has been the class of this field so far this season but Navy, among others, will be hoping to upset the Terriers’ party.

The final conference without a single member in the top twenty is the West Coast Conference as they meet in Sacramento, California on Saturday. Gonzaga will likely be top dogs in this one as they have been since 2015.

The other finals on Saturday will come in the Atlantic Coast Conference in one of the most competitive championships in the nation as #9 Virginia, #10 Syracuse and #14 Duke will all have their eyes set on the title. All three coaches will be confident in receiving an at-large invitation, but they would definitely love a championship ring as well as avoiding the risk of the committee not selecting them.

In the Sunday slate of races, #2 Texas and #12 SMU will look to sweep away the competition at the Big 12 Conference and American Athletic Conference Championships, respectively. However, at the Big 12s in Austin, Tennessee will be looking to finish close to the Longhorns to give themselves a chance at an at-large selection for the National Championships.

On the West Coast, the premier event will be the Pac-12 Conference Championships as three of the top ten will measure off each other in #4 Stanford, #6 Washington and #7 California. Also worth looking out for are #19 Oregon State who have made a push for NCAA selection in their last few results so if they can hang with the three top ten programs they’re up against they could book their ticket.

Another conference with a competitive line up is the Big Ten Conference. #11 Michigan and #13 Ohio State have dominated the conference in recent years but there are three more ranked teams in #15 Indiana, #16 Rutgers and #18 Iowa who may be wanting to spoil the show or at least put their best showing towards an at-large selection. 

The final championship is possibly the most prestigious as the Ivy League meets at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Massachusetts. Four of these schools look certain to qualify for NCAAs and will be looking towards the Conference title. #1 Princeton, #3 Yale and #5 Brown may all be considered favourites in different events while #8 Penn being close across the board predicts a strong fight for the overall title. #17 Harvard will be hoping to recover from their stumble at Women’s Sprints to make a final push for the National Championships while #20 Columbia will try to earn their first ever bid for NCAAs following a strong season so far.

Men’s Conference Championships

With far larger share of the sport making the National Championships, many of the men’s Conference Championships are more historical prestige-related events than fighting for automatic bids.

Chief amongst these is Eastern Sprints happening concurrently with the Women’s Ivy League Championships. The pecking order on the East Coast has been very tight as while #2 Yale remain unbeaten through the dual season they have been challenged quite significantly. How they deal with change to six wide racing will be interesting to see. They must also hold off simultaneous challenges from #5 Dartmouth and #6 Princeton, who both pushed them this Spring, as well as #4 Syracuse who beat them on the Charles in October will be looking forward to the IRAs in June.

Further down the field #7 Harvard, #9 Northeastern, #10 Brown and #11 Wisconsin will only have two spots in the Grand Final between them leading to crucial racing right from the very start.

Out West, the most important race is the Pac-12 Conference Championships where we will see how #1 California and #3 Washington have progressed since their dual a few weeks ago. #8 Stanford will want to get as close as possible to the big two as a statement of intent to their rivals out in the east. #18 Oregon State will only need to avoid disaster to secure their place at the IRAs in the first weekend in June.

There are a few events that will be crucial to win in order to make the National Championships. One of these is the National Invitational Rowing Championships which will likely send MIT to the big dance, while Western Sprints will be a slog between #24 UC San Diego and #25 Gonzaga as only the winners will likely be granted an entry in the Varsity Eights.

One of the oldest events on the calendar is the Dad Vail Regatta which will provide both an automatic entry for the winners – probably #15 Drexel – it will also give #21 La Salle a chance to showcase the speed they have built for the selection and a recovery point for #23 Temple to save their disappointing season. #22 Colgate have already secured their spot but will be wanting to perform well at this prestigious regatta.

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