The previous weeks of racing have seen some incredible competition and close results — although the polls largely remain steady, if margins do mean anything, championship season will be the closest seen in years. In the CRCA coaches’ poll, things mostly remained steady except with #5 Brown and #6 Yale switching places from last week, as #13 Rutgers also climbed two places. Notably, for the first time in a while, Columbia is now ranked — sitting at #20 — and a big congrats to them for this.
UW – Cal Dual
This weekend in California, #4 Cal and #7 University of Washington had their annual dual, a staple regatta of their seasons. Cal is having a particularly strong season, and this weekend, bested UW by 4 seconds in the varsity (6:08.8 to 6:12.6), and 3 seconds in the 2v, and 12 seconds in the V4+. These results are incredible considering that in last year’s NCAAs, Washington came second in the A final in the varsity, compared to Cal’s 6th in the B final. Cal, coached by Al Acosta for his 10th year, has shown impressive depth and strength.
Big 10 Invitational
The Big 10 Invitational in Sarasota say some interesting racing on both Friday and Saturday. #5 Brown posted only winds throughout Friday over #13 Rutgers, #17 Oregon State, Alabama, University of Central Florida, UCLA, and #16 Indiana. #15 Tennessee also had a great weekend — posting wins against some strong crews including #9 Michigan! Hats off to them — this momentum is encouraging after they failed to qualify for the 2023 NCAA Championships. Their 1V posted an 8-second win over Michigan (6:15 to 6:23). Tennessee’s strength will be tested in May at their conference championships as they strive to make it back to the NCAA regatta.
On Saturday, Brown and Michigan were set to met, and Brown proved victorious across of all their boats. The varsity had the closest race with Brown coming in at 6:23.006 and Michigan only 1.69 seconds behind in an absolute barn burner. As Michigan is ranked 9th and Brown 5th, these results indicate that the top-10 might all be within seconds — especially given Michigan’s close 5-second loss to #2 Texas two weekends ago. Following these races, Brown has some serious work to put in if they want to compete with the top boats and put their varsity into the A Final at the 2024 NCAAs, which they failed to do so last year despite strong regular season results. On the other hand, Michigan is looking strong to beat their 2023 NCAA performance, where they ended 11th. Considering how close they were to both Brown and Texas, they are certainly ones to watch.
Yale – Princeton
On a rainy day on the Housatonic in Derby, CT, #3 Princeton came out on top in all boats except #6 Yale’s second varsity — who managed a 1.6 second win. Princeton pulled out a 5 second win in the varsity, and 12 seconds in the V4. Lori Dauphiny’s team from New Jersey will be pleased to end victorious against Yale — who will be disappointed with this result as Yale and Princeton have been historical rivals in their conference. The Ivy League championships is in just under a month, where these fierce competitors will meet again, and Yale will surely throw all they can against Princeton again.
Next Up
Longhorn Invite: #1 Stanford, #2 Texas, # 11 Virginia and #12 Ohio State
Given their current rankings, this race on 27th April will test the true strength of the top-ranked programs, and could give a good indication of just how close racing will be. Stanford and Texas meet for the first time this season, where Texas will throw their all at Stanford as they attempt to reclaim the top spot. The countdown to conference championships begins here.
Yale-Harvard Dual
A battle between historic rivals will take place on Yale’s home water, as Yale Women’s Crew celebrates their 50th Anniversary as a program with a dual against #18 Harvard Radcliffe.
Additionally, Brown will travel to meet Cornell, as Columbia, Northeastern, and Notre Dame will race Princeton on their water.
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