After the regular season drew to a close two weeks ago, almost every single Division 1 rowing team from around the country raced this weekend at their Conference Championship. These events provide the opportunity to qualify for the two National Championship Regattas at the end of this month, the NCAAs and the IRAs. For some it was simply a case of win or go home but for others they wanted to show their mettle for the selection committees that will decide their fate over the next couple of days.
IRA Heavyweight Men’s Division 1
National Invitational Rowing Championships
The first event of the weekend took place in Worcester, Massachusetts with the National Invitational Rowing Championships. This acted as an opportunity for both Division 1 and Division 3 schools to both qualify for the National Championships and it was the latter of these who were the most successful as it was Williams who reigned supreme on Friday. The top Division 1 school was MIT who secured their entry at Lake Mercer in three weeks’ time.
Dad Vail Regatta
In a weekend of many upsets, the Dad Vail Regatta was one where the coaches’ poll performed remarkably well. #15 Drexel were the class of the field travelling home with a two second victory over #21 La Salle who continued their impressive season. Already qualified #22 Colgate rounded out the top three on the Cooper River but #23 Temple struggled to make their final case to the selectors, finishing 8.3 seconds off the pace of their local rivals.
Western Sprints
On the West Coast it was another fight for an automatic qualification at Western Sprints. #24 San Diego delivered on their expectation and took home the victory, but #25 Gonzaga will have hoped to finish close enough to make the case for a trip to the National Championships, but a comfortable loss to Santa Clara put an end to that ambition for the bulldogs.
Pac-12 Conference Championship
The more prominent West Coast schools met on Sunday on Dexter Lake at the Pac-12 Championship. Reigning National Champions #1 California were as expected the class of the field, claiming an open water victory over #3 Washington. What was less expected was #8 Stanford’s finish as they got within a second of the Huskies. Rounding out the field was #18 Oregon State with a disappointing finish 21.3 seconds back from the rest of the pack.
Eastern Sprints
In the most famous of the events happening across the country this weekend, there was high quality, exciting racing from early in the day with there being a major tussle in the first heat of the Varsity Eights at Eastern Sprints. #2 Yale, #9 Northeastern and #10 Brown were drawn into the same heat, posting times that would not be beaten until the last race of the day as Brown forced out Northeastern for the final spot in the Grand Final.
By the time that the final came around there was plenty speed on show as all six crews posted times faster than 5:30 in a race that was close all the way down the 2000 metre course. It was #2 Yale who marked long serving Head Coach Steve Gladstone’s final Eastern Sprints with a victory. A talented #6 Princeton crew finished a close second with #4 Syracuse in third. #7 Harvard will head back to Cambridge happy as they marked a comeback from early season woes, beating the first boat of #5 Dartmouth while also picking up top honours in the Second Varsity Eight.
In the lower finals #13 Boston University and #17 Georgetown overperformed to secure automatic entry into the National Championships while #20 Columbia won a close third-level final to make the selectors sit up and notice in their quest for an invite.
NCAA Women’s Division 1
Atlantic-10 Conference Championship
In the first of the three Championships that were taking place on Fish Creek in Saratoga Springs, New York, George Washington rode their relative successes in the Regular Season all the way to their very first Atlantic-10 Conference Championship title. They won both of the two eights races and while Rhode Island won in the Varsity Four, securing the title with relative comfort with an eight second margin in the decisive race.
Colonial Athletic Association Championship
Alongside them in Upstate New York was the Colonial Athletic Association title. Northeastern had won eight successive Conference Crowns and while twelve months ago they defeated Drexel by the narrowest margin, this year they swept every category, an achievement they hadn’t accomplished since 2017.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship
The final event of the three at Saratoga Springs was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships and this was another case of one team sweeping the field. It was Jacksonville who dominated their conference opponents to claim their second straight title. The Dolphins will travel to the NCAA Championships in two weeks’ time as they look to improve on their last place finish at the event last time out.
Patriot League Championship
Friday’s racing was not all just coronations, as was seen in the Patriot League. The favoured Boston University won both of the first two events: the Varsity Four and the Second Varsity Eight. However, in the blue ribband Varsity Eight, Navy got the better of the Terriers by 3.5 seconds allowing the Mids to draw even on points and clinch the tiebreaker – and with it the Conference Championship by the narrowest possible margin.
West Coast Conference Championship
In the West Coast Conference, it was another dominant performance by the Gonzaga crews, taking the win in all three points scoring events, the bulldogs made it eight championships in a row. They will look towards the NCAAs as their main goal for the season as they look to challenge with the more established programs from across the country.
Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
The first major conference to crown their Champion the ACC Championship was held on Lake Wheeler across Friday and Saturday. With the three favoured programs represented in the Grand Finals in all events. Come finals day it was a mixed bag. #10 Syracuse ruled the First Varsity Eights race but with the lower boats finishing behind #9 Virginia and #14 Duke, the Cavaliers managed to take home the all-important team points crown and the automatic qualification that goes with it. Hope is not lost as both Syracuse and Duke will likely to be able to go again at the National Championships at the end of the month given the strength of their record across the season.
Big 12 Conference Championship
In Austin at the Big 12s it was #2 Texas who ruled to roost once again boating the two fastest boats of the day, with their narrowest margin of victory being 11.5 seconds and the first eight winning by almost 20 seconds. This was Texas’ seventh successive sweep of all of the events having not lost a single boat class at this level in the tenure of current head coach Dave O’Neill. Tennessee and Alabama will have been looking to close the gap to the Longhorns in an effort to gain an invite to the National Championship, but the sheer scale of this demolition will likely rule that out.
American Athletic Conference Championship
Another program with a record of sweeping away their conference opposition is #12 SMU. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee they completed their third such sweep of the events in as many years in the final instance of this version of the American Athletic Conference. UCF fell out of the top two for the first time in Conference History after changing head coaches midway through the season as Tulsa forced them down into third.
Big Ten Conference Championship
The biggest conference in terms of number of boats raced, the Big Ten Conference Championship consisted of seven rounds of racing, each eight boats wide, on Eagle Creek in Indianapolis, Indiana. This also brought wild results across the different events as programs rose and fell based on different areas of strength in each boathouse. It was #11 Michigan who came out on top in both the Varsity Eight as well as the team standings while in the next three spots it was a wild race between #13 Ohio State, #15 Indiana and #16 Rutgers. It was the Indiana crew who pulled through in the Varsity Eight but Ohio State’s depth kept them in second on the team rankings. Rutgers wound up fourth in both standings but it was #18 Iowa who disappointed the most as they failed to deliver on early season promise.
Pac-12 Conference Championship
On Dexter Lake it was #4 Stanford running the show at the Pac-12 Conference Championships. Only a 2.6 second loss in the Second Varsity Eight cost them a clean sweep of the events they entered as the Cardinal left Lowell, Oregon with a strong performance to head into the NCAAs. Lower down the rankings it was a repeat of their dual a few weeks ago as #6 Washington were a class above #7 California as the Huskies took the Second Varsity Eights as well as second place in all but one of the other point scoring events. USC managed to get revenge on #19 Oregon State who knocked them off the rankings at the same venue just two weeks ago and the Spartans may try to make a late push for an invite to the National Championship.
Ivy League Championship
Unlike every other women’s conference in the sport, the Ivy League determines its Conference Champion on just the Varsity Eight and not on some team points system and it was the #1 Princeton Tigers who took home their eighth straight title as well as the team points crown overall. Despite the scale of this achievement, this was by no means an easy feat as it required a course record time to hold off a #8 Penn crew who are at a historical hoigh mark for the program. Moreover there were many programs getting involved in the fight up and down the event list. #3 Yale won the Second Varsity Eight and #5 Brown were close in the Fours. Even #20 Columbia won a medal demonstrating the level of parity in the league. Despite this, #17 Harvard’s constancy managed to get them to ahead of the Lions from Manhattan, putting them ahead in the race for an NCAA Championship Invitation.
Coming Up Next Week
There is no collegiate racing next weekend at the Varsity level this upcoming weekend but all eyes will be waiting for Tuesday when the selection committees will reveal who will receive invitations to their respective National Championships. On the men’s side the last spot will likely be contested between Holy Cross and Temple. While for the women only two of Rutgers, Harvard, Columbia and USC will make the cut. These programs will be waiting desperately hoping for good news to come their way.
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