University of Washington
NCAA Championships
UW Women's Crew Qualifies All Three Boats For NCAA Grand Finals
May 30, 2015 | Women's Rowing
GOLD RIVER, Calif. – On the second day of the NCAA Championships, UW women's crew finished in the top three in the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four semifinals to become one of two teams to qualify all three of its crews for the grand finals.
“The big goal for the whole year was to see if we could get all three boats in the finals and we managed to do that,” UW women's crew head coach Bob Ernst said. “That's a great accomplishment for the kids on the team and the coaches. But really it's not all about today. It's all about the process and it's about what this team has done the whole year."
The Huskies began their day with the varsity eight finishing in third place in the second semifinal. UW started the race quickly and used that fast start to help distance the top three boats from the rest of the field. Defending NCAA champion Ohio St. finished in first place while UW and Stanford battled throughout the race for second. The Cardinal edged out the Huskies in the end, UW finishing with a time of 6:34. 602.
“Most of last year's varsity boat graduated,” Ernst said. “We had to recreate that boat. We had some great leadership and they have all bought it from day one. It's wonderful to see their progress throughout the season.”
UW's second varsity entered its semifinal as the top-seeded second varsity crew and got off to a great start on its way to a second-place finish. The Huskies held a strong lead throughout, with California in second for the majority of the race. Ohio St. made a big move at about 1500m to get into contention from lane four and kept moving forward, taking the lead over the Huskies in the last 50m. The Buckeyes late comeback gave them first place, with the Huskies in second in 6:34.234.
The varsity four concluded the day with a hard-fought third place finish, edging out in-state rival Washington State by less than a second for the final spot in the grand final. The Huskies started quickly and held off a late WSU charge to take third behind Virginia and Brown. UW finished in 7:26.777.
The Huskies begin racing on the Sunday, May 31, the final day of the NCAA Championships, at 10:24 a.m. PT in the varsity four grand final. The second varsity eight grand final is scheduled for 10:48 a.m. The varsity eight will conclude the competition at 11:12 a.m.
“Tomorrow is bonus time,” Ernst said. “The athletes are revved up about racing and they're excited. To a point, you just roll the dice. Every team you beat gets you further up the points standings.”
Live stats and live streaming will be made available to follow all grand final races. For updates throughout the competition, follow the Huskies on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @UWHuskyCrew.
Official Results
V8 Semifinal: 1, Ohio St., 6:29.322; 2, Stanford, 6:33.274; 3, UW, 6:34.602; 4, Brown, 6:39.211; 5, Princeton, 6:44.499; 6, Harvard, 6:48.674
2V8 Semifinal: 1, OSU, 6:32.249; 2, UW, 6:34.234; 3, Cal, 6:38.734; 4, Texas, 6:41.984; 5, Michigan, 6:42.182; 6, Wisconsin, 6:42.724
V4 Semifinal: 1, Virginia, 7:21.652; 2, Brown, 7:24.459; 3, UW, 7:26.777; 4, WSU, 7:27.334; 5, Stanford, 7:37.184; 6, Texas, 7:38.642
Sunday Race Schedule
8:12 a.m. PT Varsity 4 Grand Final
8:36 a.m. PT Second Varsity 8 Grand Final
9:00 a.m. PT Varsity 8 Final
