May 29, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The University of Virginia women's rowing team begins competition on Friday (May 31) in the sixth NCAA Women's Rowing Championships at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, Ind. The competition is scheduled to continue through Sunday (June 2).

Virginia is one of 12 teams selected to compete in the championships. The other team selections include Brown, California-Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, Syracuse, Washington and Yale.

As a team selection, Virginia sends three crews to the NCAA Championships. The 12 schools competing for the team title have one crew in each of the contested races - the first varsity eight, the second varsity eight and the varsity four.

Four additional schools received at-large invitations to participate in the first varsity eight competition. Those schools include Cornell, Notre Dame, Southern California and Washington State. The four schools receiving at-large invitations in the varsity eight can win that competition, but without an entry in all three races are ineligible for the team title.

Virginia finished seventh as a team at last year's NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Ga. UVa finished fourth in the second varsity eight, sixth in the varsity four and 15th in the first varsity eight last year. Washington won the team competition at last year's championships with Michigan finishing second and Brown third.

Virginia has finished in the top seven in the team competition at each of the five NCAA Women's Rowing Championships. The Cavaliers finished fourth in 1997, third in 1998, second in 1999, third in 2000 and seventh in 2001.

The women's rowing team is in its seventh season as an intercollegiate sport at UVa.