Virginia Advances Three Boats on First Day of NCAA Championships

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May 29, 2015

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GOLD RIVER, Calif.–The Virginia rowing team advanced all three boats to the semifinals on the first day of the NCAA Championships Friday (May 29) on Lake Natoma.

“We had a little bit of a bump in the road in this morning’s heats with the Second Varsity Eight, but they came back and did a nice job this afternoon in the repechage to change the momentum back,” UVa head coach Kevin Sauer said. “Our Varsity Eight and Varsity Four both did a great job and with all three boats advancing, it shows we are in the hunt.”

The Cavalier Varsity Eight won its heat in a time of 6:25.825, defeating Stanford (6:29.417), Washington State (6:33.486), Notre Dame, Northeastern and Jacksonville. The Cardinal had a slight lead at the 500-meter mark, but UVa made a strong move to take the lead and never looked back.

The Virginia Varsity Four posted the top time of all four heats, claiming its race in 7:15.394, ahead of Yale (7:17.590), Notre Dame (7:29.351), Navy, USC and Central Florida.

The UVa Second Varsity Eight placed third in its heat in 6:41.271, behind Washington State (6:36.478) and Texas (6:38.581), which forced a second row of the day for the boat in the repechage. In its rep, the Cavalier crew won a tight race in a time of 6:38.551, just ahead of Michigan (6:38.768) and Harvard (6:40.218).

The action continues Saturday (May 30) with the semifinals beginning at 11:30 a.m. EST Virginia’s first race will be the Varsity Eight’s semifinal at 11:50 a.m. The top three from each semifinal advances to the grand finals on Sunday.