May 30, 2009

Saturday, May 30

UVa Wins Varsity Eight Semi, Advances To All 3 Grand Finals
Virginia's fourth-ranked Varsity Eight won its semifinal with a victory over No. 1 Stanford, and the Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four also qualified for Sunday's grand finals on the second day of the 2009 NCAA Rowing Championships on the Cooper River.

Virginia is one of four teams (California, Stanford and Yale are the others) to have a boat in each of Sunday's grand finals. The Varsity Eight will be raced at 11:45 a.m. Sunday with UVa competing against No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 California, No. 3 Yale, No. 8 Princeton and No. 10 Brown. The finals can be watched online by clicking on this link.

The first semifinal, which Virginia was competing in, was called back due to an equipment issue that resulted in a Clemson rower going into the water. After moving on to the second semifinal, that race was called back due to a false start. Those teams regrouped at the start line and California (6:12.87), Princeton (6:17.03) and Yale (6:18.32) came in first, second and third to qualify for the grand final.

Varsity 4+ Advances to Grand Finals at NCAA Rowing Championships
On the second day of the NCAA Rowing Championships, Clemson's Varsity 4+ won its heat and will compete in the grand finals for the national championship tomorrow morning. The Varsity 8+ and Second Varsity 8+ advanced to the petite finals of the regatta after finishing sixth in their respective semifinals.

The Varsity 4+ looked strong from the start and led almost the entire race to finish with a time of 7:16.17. Yale finished a close second with a time of 7:17.50, while Virginia crossed the finish line third in 7:18.28. Clemson's time was less than a second behind Wisconsin, who was the winner of the other semifinal. The Tigers will compete in the grand final tomorrow morning at 10:15, marking the first time Clemson has competed in the grand finals in the history of the program.

The Second Varsity 8+ finished sixth in its semifinal with a time of 6:50.09. Stanford won the heat, followed by Washington and California. Clemson will compete in the petite finals at 10:45 AM on Sunday.

Friday, May 29

No. 4 UVa Wins Its Three Heats On Day One of NCAAs
Virginia won all three of its heats on the first day of the 2009 NCAA Championships on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J., on Friday. The Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four all advanced to their respective semifinal races Saturday. Those semifinals can be accessed with the link above for live streaming video.

Virginia's Varsity Eight will compete in the 9 a.m. semifinal on Saturday, against Washington, Clemson, Stanford, Brown and Michigan. The other semifinal (9:15 a.m.) features Ohio State, Michigan State, Yale, California, Princeton and USC.

UVa's Varsity Eight, currently ranked No. 4 by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA), led at the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meter marks of its race before finishing strong with a first-place time of 6:29.51.

Tigers Successful on Day One of the NCAA Rowing Championships
The Clemson Tigers fared well on the first day of the NCAA Rowing Championships, with all three crews advancing to the semifinals on Saturday.

In the first race of the morning for the Tigers, the Varsity 8+ finished third in its heat with a time of 6:32.57. Clemson led at the start, but fell behind in the second 500 meters. The rest of the race remained competitive between five boats, but the Tigers were able to gain some momentum after recording the fastest time in the final 500 meters. The race was close between ACC-foe Virginia, Princeton and Clemson in the last 500 meters, but the Cavaliers pulled away at the end to finish with a time of 6:29.51. Princeton finished with a time of 6:31.49 to edge Clemson by just over a second. The Tigers will race against Washington, Virginia, Brown, Stanford and Michigan on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

In the Second Varsity 8+ race on Friday morning, Clemson finished fifth with a time of 7:04.14. As a result of the fifth place finish, the crew participated in the repechage on Friday afternoon to earn a spot in the semifinals. The Tigers raced well throughout, and made a great sprint in the final 200 meters to finish third with a time of 6:37.50. Clemson finished just over two seconds behind winner Princeton to earn a spot in the semifinals. The Tigers will face Washington, Michigan State, Cal, Stanford and Princeton at 9:45 tomorrow morning.