No. 4 Virginia Begins NCAA Championships Friday

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May 27, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–The No. 4 Virginia rowing team travels to Gold River, Calif., this weekend (May 29-31) for the NCAA Championships, to be held on Lake Natoma at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.

Live results and video streaming links will be available through VirginiaSports.com. Action is set to begin at 12:10 p.m. EST on Friday.

Each division (Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four) has four heats in the morning on Friday, with the top two from each heat moving on to Saturday’s semifinals. The remaining boats will race in a repechage to determine the final four semifinalists in each division.

Virginia’s Varsity Eight, which is seeded sixth, will be in action in the third heat at 12:20 p.m. UVa’s second-seeded Second Varsity Eight is in the second heat at 1 p.m., while the third-seeded Varsity Four is in the third heat at 1:50 p.m.

The semifinals begin Saturday at 11:30 a.m. with the V8, followed by the 2V8 and the V4, while the finals will take place on Sunday. Division I grand and petite finals (places 1-12) begin at 1:12 p.m. with the final race of the weekend being the Varsity Eight grand final at 2:12 p.m. All times are EST.

Virginia earned an automatic bid to the national regatta by virtue of its ACC Championship win on May 16 in Clemson, S.C. In addition to UVa, Brown (Ivy), California (Pac-12), Central Florida (American), Gonzaga (West Coast), Jacksonville (MAAC), Massachusetts (A-10), Navy (Patriot), Northeastern (Colonial), Ohio State (Big Ten) and Texas (Big 12) all earned their conferences’ automatic spots.

The 11 schools that earned at-large selections were Harvard-Radcliffe, Indiana, Michigan, Notre Dame, Princeton, Stanford, USC, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin and Yale.

In 2014, Virginia placed fifth with 105 points, the eighth-consecutive season the Cavaliers finished in the top six at the national regatta. The Cavaliers finished eighth overall in the Varsity Eight, while the Second Varsity Eight and the Varsity Four both finished third.

In their 17 NCAA Championship appearances in the last 18 years, the Cavaliers have finished in the top four 10 times (1997-2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009-10, 2012) and have been runners-up three times (1999, 2005, 2007).

The Varsity Eight boat won its first national title in 2012, clinching the team crown for UVa, the second team championship in program history (2010). Virginia has also captured national championships in the Second Varsity Eight in 1998, 1999 and 2005 and in the Varsity Four in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010.