BETHEL, Ohio – The University of Pennsylvania women's rowing team finished tenth at the NCAA Championships, which concluded Sunday morning on a rainy Harsha Lake.
 
Final Results (RegattaTiming.com) | Penn Boatings (PDF)

The Quakers scored 77 points across their three boats which allowed them to nip Syracuse by one point for the top-10 finish. Texas won the overall team title with 130 points, beating Stanford in the Varsity Eights final to squeak ahead of the Cardinal by just three points overall. Tennessee was third with 118 points. Among the other Ivy teams in the field, Princeton (112) was fourth, Brown (99) was sixth and Yale (88) was eighth.
 
The Quakers' Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four both bettered their pre-Championships seeds, the 16th-ranked 2V8 finishing tenth and the 15th-ranked V4A placing 11th. The Varsity Eight was seeded sixth entering the weekend but took tenth overall after a fourth-place finish in a fantastic Petite Final on Sunday.
 
Varsity Eight
One of the best 2,000-meter races you will see, the top five boats separated by a mere 2.4 seconds. Penn led after 500, fell to third behind Cal and Syracuse after 1000, and went into fourth in the third 500 and battled to hold that position ahead of Ohio State by a mere 0.208 seconds.
  #5 Cal 6:19.238
  #8 Syracuse 6:20.384
  #11 Michigan 6:20.834
  #6 Penn 6:21.446
  #13 Ohio State 6:21.654
  #7 Yale 6:26.438

Second Varsity Eight
Penn led this race after 500 meters, fell to fourth in the second 500, but powered through the final 1000 and surged at the finish to keep Ohio State and Cal at bay and earn fourth in the race and tenth overall. A great race overall, Michigan beating Brown by less than two seconds and the final five boats separated by just over three seconds.
  #10 Michigan 6:31.327
  #4 Brown 6:33.107
  #14 Virginia 6:34.089
  #16 Penn 6:35.449
  #13 Ohio State 6:36.569
  #8 Cal 6:36.601

Varsity Four
The Quakers were fifth through 500, moved into fourth by the midway point, but settled into fifth in the final half and did well to hold off Syracuse to finish 11th overall.
  #6 Michigan 7:13.916
  #5 Brown 7:16.342
  #11 Cal 7:17.558
  #13 Rutgers 7:18.372
  #15 Penn 7:23.156
  #17 Syracuse 7:25.334