University of Washington
NCAA Championships
UW Four On To NCAA Grand Final; Eights To Petite
May 29, 2026 | Women's Rowing
GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The Washington women's varsity four will row in the grand final at the 2026 NCAA Rowing Championships Sunday at Lake Lanier Olympic Park, while the Huskies' first and second eights will each compete in petite finals.
The Husky four finished second in a thrilling semifinal, while the Huskies' first and second varsity eights finished fifth and fourth in their respective semis, which were also hotly contested and ended in extremely close finishes.
Friday's NCAA schedule saw significant changes, announced Thursday night to avoid forecasts for stormy weather on Saturday. The semifinals, which were scheduled to be held on Saturday, were all moved to Friday afternoon, while the morning heats were moved up to earlier starts.
AFTERNOON SESSION – SEMIFINALS
Washington's varsity eight faced an uphill challenge in its varsity eight heat. As the No. 9 seed, UW was not projected to make the six-team grand final, and rowed in lane one with four higher-seeded teams in the semi, including No. 1 seed Tennessee, No. 4 Princeton and No. 6 Virginia.
While Tennessee led throughout, and was never under a true threat of being caught, Princeton, Virginia, UW and Cal were all in a fight for second and third places, and berths in the grand final.
At the finish, all four of those crews were within a length of the Volunteers (6:04.129), but it was the Cavaliers (6:05.573) and Tigers (6:05.681) who finished second and third, 1.4 and 1.5 seconds back of Tennessee, respectively. Cal (6:07.145) finished fourth, just three seconds off the lead, and just 0.134 seconds in front of fifth-place Washington (6:07.279).
Another tough fight followed in the second eights semifinal as that field included Texas, Virginia, Tennessee and Cal racing against Washington.
Texas led the entire race, but never by a large margin, with Tennessee and Virgina battling for second, and UW running fourth most of the way.
At the finish, Virginia (6:09.522) held on for second place, 2.6 seconds behind Texas (6:09.910). Tennessee (6:10.058) was another half-second behind UVA, while Washington (6:12.110) was fourth,
The Huskies' day wrapped up with yet another very competitive race in the first of the fours semifinals. UW, Texas and Rutgers emerged as a clear top-three in that race early on, with Washington leading the way at 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters.
Texas moved into the lead in the last 500 and won with a time of 6:52.913. Washington (6:54.951) held off a late surge from Rutgers (6:55.207), with those three earning spots in the grand final.
MORNING SESSION - HEATS
The morning opened with the three Huskies crews competing in heats, with the top-three finishers from each advancing to A/B semifinals.
Washington, seeded ninth in the varsity eight, opened with the first Division I heat in that category, racing alongside No. 1-seeded Tennessee, as well as No. 8 Syracuse.
The Volunteers took the lead from the start, with UW just ahead of Syracuse as they passed both the 500- and 1,000-meter buoys. By 1,500 meters, Syracuse had moved just in front of the Huskies, by a seat or so.
In the final 500, with the top three in the heat secure in advancing to the top semifinal, those three crews separated. Tennessee won the race in 6:03.254, nearly a length ahead of the Orange (6:06.330), who were five or six seats ahead of third-place UW (6:08.992). Michigan was another 6.6 seconds back in fourth.
The Huskies' second varsity eight entered as the No. 5 seat, racing alongside No. 4 Princeton. The two moved immediately to the lead from the start, with UW holding the early, slight edge. By 1,000 meters, Princeton led by three one-hundredths of a second. In the third 500, Michigan closed on the leaders, but both the Tigers and Huskies responded.
Down the stretch, that order held, and Princeton won a close victory with the top-three crews all within a half-length of one another. The Tigers' winning time was 6:07.367, while the UW crew finished second, in 6:08.539, just under three-tenths of a second ahead of Michigan (6:08.831).
UW's varsity four was the Huskies' highest-seeded crew, at No. 3. In that heat, Washington took the lead from the start, and commanded the race for the entire 2,000 meters. The Huskies rowed by the 500-meter mark with a length over Virginia and Princeton a close third.
But, with those three shells in comfortable position to advance to the semis, the only question was between the Cavaliers and Tigers for second.
Washington, which had an open-water lead for most of the 2,000 meters, won the race in 6:50.965. Virginia (6:53.611) closed the gap at the end and pulled away from Princeton (6:58.157) for second.
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
With the first two days of racing squeezed into one, the Huskies will have Saturday off, in terms of competition, before racing in the finals on Sundays. Here's the current schedule for those races (subject to change):
6:36 a.m. PT – Fours Grand Final
Lanes 1-6: Virginia, Washington, Stanford, Texas, Tennessee, Rutgers
7:12 a.m. PT – I Eights Petite Final
Lanes 1-6: Rutgers, Brown, California, Syracuse, Washington, Ohio State
6:48 a.m. PT – II Eights Petite Final
Lanes 1-6: Miami (Fla.), Brown, Washington, Syracuse, California, Michigan
Fans can watch a live video stream at NCAA.com/liveschedule
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VARSITY 8+ (I EIGHTS)
Shell: Jan Harville
Cox: Izzy Michaelson (Everett, Wash.)
Stroke: Aisha Rocek (Como, Italy)
7: Violet Holbrow Brooksbank (Monmouth, Wales, U.K.)
6: Jess Weir (London, England, U.K.)
5: Mira Calder (Victoria, B.C., Canada)
4: Jayna Palmer (Truckee, Calif.)
3: Cillian Mullen (Tacoma, Wash.)
2: Zola Kemp (Wellington, New Zealand)
Bow: Katie Gardner (Cowbridge, Wales, U.K.)
SECOND VARSITY 8+ (II EIGHTS)
Shell: Dottie Simpson
Cox: Perry McLoughlin (Port Washington, N.Y.)
Stroke: Issy Melville (Hamilton, New Zealand)
7: Emily Myers (Oxford, England, U.K.)
6: Chloe Sheppard (Tewkesbury, England, U.K.)
5: Kalee Verd (Olympia, Wash.)
4: Grace Worthington (Grand Haven, Mich.)
3: Cait Whittard (St. Catharine's, Ontario, Canada)
2: Amelia Westbrook (Lincoln, England, U.K.)
Bow: Sofia Suhinin (Adelaide, Australia)
FIRST VARSITY FOUR (I FOURS)
Shell: Sam & Raz
Stroke: Carmel Bollag (Seattle, Wash.)
3: Emily Downing (Marlow, England, U.K.)
2: Nienke Overgoor (Bunnik, Netherlands)
Bow: Cami Martin (Seattle, Wash.)
Cox: Camille Randall (Seattle, Wash.)
