STORY COURTESY UW ATHLETICS | PHOTO COURTESY UW ATHLETICS, BY SCOTT EKLUND/RED BOX PICTURES
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Washington’s women’s rowing team will compete at the 2023 NCAA Championships May 26-28 in Pennsauken, N.J., as the NCAA announced the 22-team field for the regatta today.
The Huskies, under seventh-year head coach Yasmin Farooq, earned the No. 7 seed in the first varsity eight, the No. 4 seed in the second eight and the No. 7 seed in the varsity four events.
Heats, which are held on the first day (Thu., May 26), are arranged based on those seedings. Here is the schedule for Washington:
Friday, May 26, Heats
9:00 a.m. ET/6:00 a.m. PT – Varsity Eight, heat one
Lanes 1-5: Rutgers, Virginia, Princeton, Washington, USC
10:24 a.m. ET/7:24 a.m. PT – Second Varsity Eight, heat four
Lanes 1-6: Gonzaga, Duke, Washington, Stanford, Michigan, Navy
10:48 a.m. ET/7:48 a.m. PT – Varsity Four, heat two
Lanes 1-5: Gonzaga, SMU, Yale, Washington, Pennsylvania
Semifinals are Saturday, May 27 starting at 8:12 a.m. ET and ending at 10:24 a.m. ET. The grand finals are set for Sunday, May 28, at (all times ET) 9:36 a.m. (V4+), 10:00 a.m. (2V8+) and 10:24 a.m. (V8+). Schedules are subject to change, and frequently do.
Washington will compete at NCAAs for the 26th time in the 26-year history of the event (of course, there was no NCAA regatta in 2020). Only the UW, Brown and Princeton have earned invitations to all 26 championships.
Last year, Washington finished fourth overall at the NCAA Championships, with entries in all three grand finals. Husky crews finished third in the second eights, and fifth in both the first eights and fours grand finals. The previous year (2021), UW finished in a three-way tie for first, and after the tie-breaker was employed, finished third overall.
Washington has won the NCAA team championship five times, sweeping all three grand finals in both 2017 and 2019 (the only team ever to do that even once, much less twice), while also winning the crown in 1997 (the first year of the NCAA regatta), 1998 and 2001.
This year, the NCAA Championships return to Cooper River in Pennsauken, N.J., near Philadelphia. The regatta was held at that same venue in both 2009 (when UW head coach Yasmin Farooq won the title as head coach at Stanford), and in 2000, when Washington finished second to Brown.
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. Princeton
2. Texas
3. Yale
4. Stanford
5. Brown
6. Pennsylvania
7. Washington
8. Virginia
9. California
10. Syracuse
11. Michigan
12. SMU
13. Indiana
14. Ohio State
15. Duke
16. USC
17. Rutgers
18. Northeastern
19. Gonzaga
20. Navy
21. George Washington
22. Jacksonville
