Championship racing for all three NCAA divisions got underway today at Mercer County Park in New Jersey, with DI heats, and DII and DIII heats and reps setting the stage for the weekend.
After the conclusion of Friday racing, the Saturday schedule was adjusted to reflect incoming weather; see the revised schedule here.
DI
Like their counterparts at the IRA this weekend, the NCAA racing has seen a significant change in their advancement progression with the elimination of reps. With the top three from each heat in the 1V8, 2V8, and V4 each advancing directly to the A/B and C/D semifinals, tactics for the racing definitely shifted from “maybe we’ll get ’em in the rep” to “we need to go NOW.” And, while there were a few close calls, notably in the 2V eights, the crews that did advance put the jets on early to ensure their progress to the next round.
Washington and Stanford were the two teams that won each of their opening heats today, while Texas, Tennessee, Brown, Princeton, Yale, Michigan, and Cal all advanced all three of their boats to the A/B semis.
Yale’s 1V threw down a fast race
The Yale 1V put a fat exclamation point on their first day by posting the third-fastest time overall enroute to upsetting the 2nd seed Texas in their opening heat. Yale coach Will Porter, for his part, didn’t want to read too much into the result.
“There are a few things I’d like to see us do differently tomorrow but overall we advanced all boats today so I am happy for them,” said Porter. “Tomorrow is a new day. We have to reset and re-focus. This regatta is a marathon grind.”
Texas 1V
For his part, Texas coach Dave O’Neill was sanguine about the opening heat as well.
“We weren’t surprised by Yale whatsoever,” said O’Neill. “I knew they’re a talented and fast crew and figured they were looking to prove something. They certainly did. Our crew is a bit younger and less experienced than a typical first eight, but they’ve shown some really good speed in training. We learned a lot this morning, and they’ll be ready for the semifinal tomorrow.”
Texas, the 2024 DI champs, has 11 athletes competing at their first NCAAs this year, five are rowing in the 1V.
For teams that are looking to get two or even all three of their crews into the A/B semis, a certain team depth is non-negotiable. As a result, a few teams had 2V eights that rowed nearly as fast (or, in a couple of cases, faster than) their 1V eights. Team speed is impressive.
DII
In the six team D2 field, the top contenders from Western Washington and Humboldt State took care of business. Humboldt won their heats in both the Eight and Four, while Western Washington, who won their 9th NCAA title last year, made short work of their heat in the Eight.
Humboldt 1V
“We had a very good morning,” said Humboldt head coach Matt Weise. “Our coxswains were the stars this morning, they executed our race plan well and kept their crews calm as they raced. I am looking forward to some close finals tomorrow!”
DIII
Top seeds Tufts, the 2024 D3 champs, and Williams did not falter today, winning each of their heats in the 1V and 2V eights. Making some noise as well was the Bates 1V, who pushed Tufts all the way down the course; separated by less than 1 second at the line, both Tufts and Bates were six seconds ahead of the Williams time in the next heat.
Tufts 1V
“One of our goals this season was learning how to be flexible as a team and find what we can control,” said Tufts coach Lily Siddall. “We are lucky for the depth of the team and the push that the top boats get from the field of five 8s on a daily basis. We are grateful for the opportunity to be in the grand final tomorrow and race for a spot on the podium.”
For Bates, who saw a long-time streak of invitations to the NCAAs snapped last year, their row today was emblematic of the team’s goals outlook season.
Bates 1V
“Our goal for the year from the very beginning has been to be back at the NCAAs, so once that goal was achieved, albeit by the skin of our teeth, it became a motivation all onto itself,” said longtime Bates head coach Peter Steenstra. “Now that we’re here and we’re on our way they’re seeing everything from this point on as a bonus to end the season.”
Notes from the Course
During practice earlier in the week, the banks of the course were like a barrage of data issuing from coxboxes–telemetry readings about splits per 500m, meters per second, calls by name for the other crews in the upcoming heat, spilling the beans about race plans and sprint sequences, and more. The competitiveness doesn’t stop there, as crews in adjacent lanes were getting into battle paddle situations where no one boat wanted to break down and be the first to pause or stop.
One call before practicing a sprint sequence went like this: “Are you ready to get your blades in and kill them now?!?!”
The NCAA Championship infrastructure woes continue, this year with respect to lodging. Some crews are reporting 40-90 minute drives to the course in hotel-heavy central New Jersey; one team is six miles away from the IRA course, but 35 miles from the NCAA course. Lodging includes off-brand hotels with online reviews so bad that a few teams changed their hotels themselves.
No media?
One note we have to share, if reluctantly: readers have commented for the past several years that the row2k photos from the NCAA are not at the same level as the IRA, or other college and high school championships, or Worlds and the Olympics, or really of row2k’s standard weekly galleries; this is due to extremely restricted access the past several years at the NCAA Championship, including no start dock access even at venues like the Cooper River and Sarasota, which both have docks that were purpose-built for photographers and media. (One enterprising photog made it to the start at Mercer today, so maybe the ‘restrictions’ depend on who is paying attention.)
row2k has tried for many years to improve access at the championships, but unfortunately have been unsuccessful (to understate the case dramatically). Trust that we will do our absolute best with whatever is on offer, but won’t be fighting that fight any longer, so wanted to mention this directly to our readers who have expressed to us the same frustration that we ourselves have.
Western Washington 1V
