Conference championship weekend is finally here, after a a season’s worth of build-up to this very moment. Results were close, as 11 Automatic Qualifiers (AQs) were nominated toward this year’s ultimate NCAA Championship in a few weekend’s time in Bethel, Ohio. SMU has already received their bid from the AACs last weekend.
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACCs)
It’s #10 ‘Cuse who walk away with the victory and AQ for the ACCs this weekend. For the second time in conference history, #16 Virginia has been dethroned. The 1st Varsity race showed some interesting results, Syracuse had an easy 5.7 seconds margin over Virginia, who were only 3.3 seconds ahead of a dark horse Notre Dame, who remain unranked throughout the season. Will this be enough to get Notre Dame a wild card entry at the NCAAs? That remains to be seen. The Syracuse 2nd varsity had a good fight — a 1.9 second win over UVA, and the #15 Duke 1v4 also bested Virginia — a solid win from Duke here. Overall, a very lackluster weekend from Virginia, who will be hard-pressed to improve their 10th position finish in the team points at last years NCAAs. Overall, an impressive showing from ‘Case and a disappointing one for both Duke but especially Virginia, who will now turn to the At-large selection show to hope they’ve received a bid to Bethel.
Big 10
At the Big 10s this weekends, it was #9 Michigan who walked away with their ticket punched to the NCAAs, with some very close wins grabbed. They narrowly pipped #14 Indiana by one second in the varsity, and only 2.2 seconds ahead of #12 Ohio State. Michigan should be pleased to walk away with wins in the 1v, 2v, V4 — all the NCAA boats — as well as the 3v8, and 4v8. The Big 10 is very competitive, containing a majority of the teams who consistently sit in the middle of the rankings, making for some very fun and exciting racing, as this year’s championship proved. This race is actually eight lanes across, which makes for quite the sight to see (and hear). Michigan will look toward Bethel as the others look toward the selection show to receive their fate.
Big 12
Here comes Texas — despite a late-season strong push from #5 Tennessee, #1 Texas has done it again. Texas seem to have historically treated this race as a merely a building block to the peak at NCAAs, and this weekend seems no different. The weekend was not the easy breeze is has been in previous years, however, #5 Tennessee gave them a challenge in all boats, most notably in the 2v, with Texas posting 6:08.8 and Tennessee with 6:10.9. #19 Alabama failed to make much of a statement, and a prospect of an at-large bid may be in jeopardy.
Beyond this, Tennessee are rumoured to be considering a trip to Henley Royal, but will they have peaked too early? A trip to the NCAAs, one which they sporadically make, will be the ultimate test for the Lady Vols of Tennessee.
Texas will be eager for the chance to take back their championship after falling last year to #2 Stanford. After another strong performance at the Big 12s, Stanford might just be a little more worried about that happening. Go ahead and light that tower, Texas.
Ivy League
The Ivies have consistently had three to four teams represented at the NCAA regatta, so all eyes will be on the selection show to see how many are represented this year. For the first time ever, Ivies was held over two days as opposed to one — this was sure to factor in these results. #3 Princeton once again claimed the AQ. The varsity was a hot race — down to the wire with 4.5 seconds between the top-3. #7 Brown will be very disappointed to once again be out of the medals in the varsity, especially when their 2v performance was so strong — time wise, the boats were shocking close, less than a second between their 1 and 2v. More selection will be in the books for them ahead of the NCAAs to sort this issue out.
#6 Yale medalled across the board this weekend, having lost a big portion (17 seniors) of their squad last year, and that seemed to pose a big challenge. Their young squad stepped up appropriately, and accepted the challenge, putting a very strong fight against Princeton. Unfortunately, Yale was three seconds off a three-peat in the 2v, but will look to rebound in the next two weeks.
I would be remised not to mention #11 University of Pennsylvania, who might be disappointed with their performance this weekend, despite a strong showing to place 2nd in the Varsity — only three seconds behind Princeton and one ahead of Yale — and a second in the 3V as well. They would probably have liked to make more of a statement to secure their ticket to the NCAAs and place higher in the team ranking at this years Ivies.
Pac-12s
The final Pac-12 Championship Regatta will go down in history as one of the most competitive league championships this season, and consistently as such over decades of seasons. This time, it was all #2 Stanford wins across the board as they show their strength at this last test.
Although it looked as though #4 Cal and #8 University of Washington might pose bigger threats to Stanford, Stanford walked away with an easy win, a 6:26.5, 5 seconds ahead of Cal, and nine seconds ahead of UW. It should be noted that UW’s lineups seemed to have changed a lot between their last few races, yet their 1v and 2v still posted similar times, with the 2v just narrowly besting their 1v’s time. This indicates that they have 16-plus strong athletes who all might be worthy of a seat in that varsity, with surely more to be done ahead of Bethel. Now, we say goodbye to the Pac-12 regatta, easily one of the most competitive out there.
Atlantic-10
In some very close racing at the A10s, it was University of Rhode Island who took the wins and received the AQ. The result might not have been as close as George Washington, last year’s champs, would’ve liked — posting 6:49 to Rhode Island’s 6:45. University of Massachusetts showed depth by placing second in the 2v and first in the V4+ but it was Rhode Island’s day otherwise.
Coastal Athletic Association
Once again, Northeastern top the results across the board at the Coastal Athletic Assc. Championship’s — this is their 10th straight title. The team out of Boston, Mass. had an impressive showing with all races won by over 5 seconds. They receive the AQ once again to NCAAs, where last year, they finished 18th in the team trophy.
Patriot League
Despite Navy being consistent favourites in this league, it was a day to be a Boston University terrier. BU posted all wins in the 8, 2v8, and V4+, including a close three-second win over Navy in the Varsity. They receive the AQ, dethroning Navy who have dominated since 2015, and Georgetown who received the 2023 NCAA AQ and finished 20th in the team trophy, out of 22.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Jacksonville received the AQ this year after a successful weekend at the MAACs, securing their third straight conference championship title. They finished last at 22nd in the team trophy last year and will hope to represent their conference better this year.
West Coast Conference
At the WCCs, Gonzaga were victorious this round. In the varsity, they beat 2nd place University of San Diego by an easy 12 seconds. At last years NCAAs, they finished 19th as a team and will try to beat that result again.
Next up:
At-large bids to the 2024 NCAA regatta will be presented in the annual Selection Show on the 21st of May, where 11 more teams (adding to the 11 AQs) will be granted the chance to compete in the pinnacle regatta of US women’s collegiate rowing.
The NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship of 2024 is 31 May – 2 June in Bethel, Ohio.
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