No. 3 Virginia Competes at NCAA Championships This Weekend

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – The third-ranked and reigning national champion Virginia rowing team begins competition at the 2011 NCAA Rowing Championships on Friday (May 27) on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. The Cavaliers begin racing with their Varsity Eight heat at 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT). Live results and live video of all the races will be available at VirginiaSports.com.

Following the Varsity Eight’s heat, UVa’s Second Varsity Eight races in its heat at 9:45 a.m. PDT (12:45 p.m. EDT), followed by the Varsity Four heat at 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT). A top-three finish in a heat would send UVa on to Saturday’s semifinals in that event. The finals are scheduled for Sunday.

Virginia is ranked No. 3 in the latest Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) top 25 poll, behind No. 1 Princeton and No. 2 California. At the 2010 NCAA Championships, also held on Lake Natoma, UVa claimed the team title with 87 points and won the Varsity Four race. Second-place a season ago went to California (82 points), followed by third-place Princeton (76 points).

At the time, Virginia became just the sixth school to win the team title. Brown has won six times, followed by Washington (three times), California (twice), Harvard (once) and Stanford (once).

Yale won the Varsity Eight grand final in 2010, while Brown claimed the national championship in the Second Varsity Eight.

Earlier this season, Virginia won its 11th Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and swept every race at the conference regatta (April 23). After a setback in the Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight at No. 1 Princeton a week later, UVa bounced back by winning every race at the Oak Ridge Invitational (May 15) in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In the 15-year history of the NCAA Rowing Championships, Virginia has earned a berth on 14 occasions, finishing as runner-up three times (most recently in 2007) in addition to its 2010 title.

The Cavaliers have won the Second Varsity Eight grand final at NCAAs three times (1998, 1999, 2005) and the Varsity Four race four times (2004-05, 2007, 2010).

As a team, UVa has finished in the top four nine times (1997-2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009-10).

In addition to Virginia, the teams competing in the 2011 NCAA Championships are: Brown, California, Clemson, Dartmouth, Harvard, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Princeton, Southern California, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin and Yale.

A complete schedule of Friday’s Division I heats follows.

2011 NCAA Championships
Lake Natoma | Gold River, Calif.
Friday, May 27

Eastern Time Event
11:30 a.m. Varsity Eight Heat 1 Princeton, Virginia, Michigan State, Michigan, Washington
11:45 a.m. Varsity Eight Heat 2 California, Brown, Clemson, Dartmouth, Yale
12 p.m. Varsity Eight Heat 3 Stanford, USC, Washington State, Ohio State, Harvard, Wisconsin
12:15 p.m. Second Varsity Eight Heat 1 Princeton, Brown, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan
12:30 p.m. Second Varsity Eight Heat 2 Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, USC, Washington
12:45 p.m. Second Varsity Eight Heat 3 Virginia, California, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Washington State, Harvard
1 p.m. Varsity Four Heat 1 California, Ohio State, Princeton, Clemson, Michigan State
1:15 p.m. Varsity Four Heat 2 Washington, Wisconsin, Washington State, Yale, Harvard
1:30 p.m. Varsity Four Heat 3 USC, Virginia, Michigan, Brown, Stanford, Dartmouth

Tentative UVa NCAA Line-Ups
Varsity Eight: Coxswain Sidney Thorsten, Kristine O’Brien, Christine Roper, Fiona Schlesinger, Martha Kuzzy, Keziah Beall, Sarah Borchelt, Claudia Blandford, Carli Goldberg

Second Varsity Eight: Coxswain Molly Frear, MacKenzie Leahy, Taylor Levine, Carolyn Glandorf, Brandy Herald, Morgan Joseph, Marelle Myers, Cara Linnenkohl, Lauren Shook

Varsity Four: Coxswain Sarah Jordan, Ruth Retzinger, Kaity McCullough, Chelsea Simpson, Caroline Sweeny