UW Advances To A/B Semis In All Boats On Day One At NCAAs

Friday, May 31

Indianapolis, IN

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University of Washington

NCAA Rowing Championship

UW Advances To A/B Semis In All Boats On Day One At NCAAs

May 31, 2019 | Women's Rowing

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INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 1-ranked Washington's women's rowing team advanced to the A/B semifinals in all three events Friday on the first day of the 2019 NCAA Rowing Championships. The Huskies finished second in their varsity eight heat and took top spot in their other two: the second varsity eight and the varsity four.

Due to overnight storms that left debris on the racecourse, the entire schedule of races was moved from Friday morning to the afternoon with the regatta starting eight hours later than planned. That also changed the progression format as repechages were eliminated, meaning that the top three from each heat advanced to the A/B semifinal directly (rather than the top two with all others going to repechages with another shot at the A/B, as originally intended).

Washington, seeded No. 4 overall in the V8+ and No. 1 in the other two boats, earned a spot in all three semis. Saturday, the top-three finishers in each of two A/B semifinals in the three categories will earn spots in Sunday's grand finals.

Washington opened up a lead early on its first race, the fourth heat of the varsity eight. But by about the 1,000-meter mark, No. 5-seed Texas made a move and closed the Husky advantage. By the 1,500-meter buoy, the Longhorns had moved in front. Only needing a top-three finish, those two crews were well in front of the rest of the field headed to the finish line. Texas won the heat with a time of 6:07.284, about six seats in front of Washington at 6:09.394. Virginia earned the other berth in the A/B semis, well behind at 6:20.407.

Directly after the varsity eight heat, Washington's top-seeded second varsity eight competed in its heat. Washington led the whole way and earned a comfortable win. The Huskies' had an open-water advantage over Brown for the entire second half of the race as the Bruins battled with fellow Ivy League crew Princeton for second. Those two crews finished well back of Washington, but well ahead of the rest of the field to earn a trip to the top semifinal. The Husky time was 6:19.507 while Brown crossed the line in 6:25.413. Princeton was third in 6:29.079.

In the Huskies' last heat of the day, the varsity four, Brown took the early lead and was in front of the Huskies at 500 meters. However, in the second 500, top-seeded Washington moved back on top. Brown fell back quickly and California moved into second place at about 1,000 meters. By that point, those three were well in control of the three advancing spots, separated from the other two boats. The Huskies (7:02.901) won the race with a little bit of open water between their shell and Cal (7:06.649). The Golden Bears beat Brown by several lengths.

In the women's varsity eight, the seedings mostly held up as the top-12 seeds earned the 12 spots in the top semifinals. No. 1 Cal, No. 2 Princeton and No. 3 Stanford all won their varsity eight heats. In both the 2V8+ and V4+ heats, 11 of the top-12 seeds made it through.

Saturday, the Huskies will row in semifinals, requiring a top-three finish (out of six entrants in each) to advance to grand finals on Sunday. Here's the schedule for Saturday:

10:10 a.m. ET / 7:10 a.m. PT – Varsity Eight, A/B semifinal (Rutgers, Ohio State, Stanford, Princeton, Washington, Yale)
10:20 a.m. ET / 7:20 a.m. PT – Second Varsity Eight, A/B semifinal (Indiana, Ohio State, California, Washington, Texas, Yale)
10:40 a.m. ET / 7:40 a.m. PT – Varsity Four, A/B semifinal (Princeton, Yale, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Brown)

(NOTE: The scheduled was changed from the initial announcement. The above schedule is as of 5:45 a.m. PT on Saturday, June 1. Check @UW_Rowing on Twitter for the latest!)

Saturday Coverage:
Live Timing
Live Video

WASHINGTON'S NCAA LINEUPS

Varsity Eight
Shell: Title IX Tenacity
Cox: Marley Avritt (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Stroke: Tabea Schendekehl (Dortmund, Germany)
7: Calina Schanze (Behlendorf, Germany)
6: Sofia Asoumanaki (Athens, Greece)
5: Marlee Blue (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names Academy)
4: Teal Cohen (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School)
3: Valentina Iseppi (Gardone Riviera, Italy)
2: Jennifer Wren (Seattle Wash./Bishop Blanchet)
Bow: Carmela Pappalardo (Salerno, Italy)

Second Varsity Eight
Shell: Title IX Sisterhood
Cox: Amanda Durkin (Hingham, Mass./Hingham)
Stroke: Klara Grube (Lübeck, Germany)
7: Lark Skov (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Steamboat Springs)
6: Elise Beuke (Sequim, Wash./Sequim)
5: Holly Dunford (Tadworth, U.K.)
4: Molly Gallaher (Snoqualmie, Wash./Skyline)
3: Mackenna Cameron (Seattle, Wash./Chief Sealth Int'l.)
2: Skylar Jacobson (Lakewood, Wash./Steilacoom)
Bow: Adele Likin (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt)

Varsity Four
Shell: EOC '96
Stroke: Dimitra Tsamopoulou (Athens, Greece)
3: Kieanna Stephens (Vancouver, B.C., Canada)
2: Holly Drapp (Tampa, Fla./Strawberry Crest)
Bow: Emma Vagen (Kent, Wash./Kentwood)
Cox: Dana Brooks (Tiburon, Calif./Redwood)