Washington Women Ready To Defend NCAA Title
Washington's women's rowing team will compete at the 2021 NCAA Championships May 28-30 in Sarasota, Fla., as the NCAA announced the 22-team field for the regatta today.
The Huskies, under fifth-year head coach Yasmin Farooq, earned the top seed in second varsity eight, the No. 2 seed in the second eight and the fifth see in the varsity four events. As a team, the Washington women have held the No. 1 spot in every coaches poll this spring.
Heats, which are held on the first day (Fri., May 28), are arranged based on those seedings. Here is the schedule for Washington:
Friday, May 28, Heats
8:48 a.m. ET/5:48 a.m. PT – Varsity Eight, heat two
Washington, Ohio State, SMU, Wisconsin, Gonzaga
9:48 a.m. ET/6:48 a.m. PT – Second Varsity Eight, heat one
Washington, Brown, SMU, Princeton, Alabama
11:12 a.m. ET/8:12 a.m. PT – Varsity Four, heat four
Virginia, Washington, Washington State, Alabama, Navy, Northeastern
Semifinals are Saturday, May 29 starting at 8:12 a.m. ET and ending at 10:24 a.m. ET. The grand finals are set for Sunday, May 30, at (all times ET) 10:00 a.m. (V4+), 10:24 a.m. (2V8+) and 10:48 a.m. (V8+). Schedules are subject to change.
Washington will compete at NCAAs for the 24th time in the 24-year history of the event (of course, there was no NCAA regatta in 2020). Only the UW and Brown have earned invitations to all 24 championships. The Huskies were the Pac-12's automatic berth winner by virtue of winning their third straight conference title last Sunday.
The Huskies swept the most recent NCAA Championships in 2019 at Indianapolis, winning all three finals for the second time in three years (UW pulled off the first-ever NCAA sweep in 2017). In between, the Huskies finished second in 2018, winning the second varsity eight while taking second in the varsity eight and the four. Washington has also won NCAA Rowing team titles in 1997, 1998 and 2001, along with 2017 and 2019.
This year, the NCAA Championships return to Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, which was also the site of the 2018 NCAAs. Benderson Park has also held the 2017 World Rowing Championships and the 2019 World Rowing Under-23 Championships.
At NCAAs, each participating team races a first varsity eight, a second varsity eight and a varsity four. Points are assigned for places in each of those three races (66 for first place in the varsity eight, 44 for first place in second varsity eight and 22 for first place in third varsity four) and the overall points champion wins the NCAA crown.
Here is the entire field for this year's NCAA Women's Rowing Championships (in varsity eight seeding order):
1. Texas
2. Washington
3. Stanford
4. Virginia
5. Michigan
6. Rutgers
7. Ohio State
8. California
9. Princeton
10. SMU
11. Alabama
12. Duke
13. Washington State
14. Syracuse
15. Wisconsin
16. Tennessee
17. Brown
18. Gonzaga
19. Navy
20. Northeastern
21. Rhode Island
22. Marist