PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – Making just its second full-team appearance at the NCAA Championships, and just a year after making its NCAA debut, the University of Pennsylvania women's rowing team finished sixth at the NCAA Championship. The three-day event concluded Sunday on the Cooper River.
Penn's Varsity Eight met its pre-race seed by finishing fourth in the final race of the Championship, the Grand Final. The Second Varsity Eight was third in its Petite Final, taking ninth place overall, while the Varsity Four just missed meeting its seed with a fourth-place finish in the Third Final.
Final Results (RegattaTiming.com)
As a team, Penn totaled 92 points on the weekend which had them just ahead of Brown (91). Stanford—which won the Varsity Eights and Second Varsity Eights divisions—was the overall team winner, with 129 points while Washington was second (120) followed by Princeton (113). Texas and Yale tied for fourth, both of them scoring 110 points, but the Longhorns were given fourth based on finishing ahead of the Bulldogs in the Varsity Eight Grand Final.
It was a significant step forward for a Penn program, whose NCAA experience prior to last spring had been limited to a Four back in 1998. The Quakers were 11th in the 22-team field a year ago with 72 points, and the Varsity Eight's appearance in Sunday's Grand Final represented yet another historic moment in a season full of them.
Varsity Eight
The first four boats were separated by less than six-tenths of a second through 500 meters, but Stanford made a move in the second 500 and held a little more than a second lead over Washington at the midpoint. Princeton was third at that point, nearly two seconds ahead of Penn, and while the Quakers made up some of that difference in the third 500 they couldn't quite make it all up. The Cardinal won in 6:17.154, more than two seconds ahead of Washington (6:19.558). Princeton (6:22.178) was nearly three seconds behind the Huskies, with Penn (6:23.860) a little less than two seconds behind the Tigers. Texas (6:28.280) was fifth, while Yale (6:33.158) was sixth.
Second Varsity Eight
Sixth-seeded Penn took third in its Petite Final to finish ninth overall. The Quakers and Ohio State battled for the second spot for more than 1,000 meters right to the finish line, Penn up by less than two-tenths of a second at the 1,000-meter mark and the Buckeyes up by less than two-tenths at 1,500. OSU was able to hold that advantage over the final 500 meters, the Buckeyes' time of 6:37.277 nipping Penn's 6:37.563. Brown took the lead in the second 500 and never let up, winning in 6:36.063, with Virginia (6:41.867) finishing fourth just ahead of SMU (6:41.911). Michigan was sixth, in 6:45.733.
Varsity Four
The Quakers just missed meeting their pre-Championship 15 seed, taking fourth in Sunday's Third Final and finishing 16th overall. Penn's time was 7:35.315 which was a little more than a second behind third-place USC (7:34.095). Syracuse won the race in 7:25.679, followed by Rutgers which was a little less than four seconds behind in 7:29.113. Indiana (7:44.401) and Gonzaga (8:01.297) rounded out the field.
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