Women's Crew Has Strong Start at Day 1 of the NCAA Championship

Friday, May 27

Sarasota, Fla.

V8, 2V8, V4 advance to A/B Semifinals

Brown University

NCAA Championship

Women's Crew Has Strong Start at Day 1 of the NCAA Championship

5/27/2022 7:12:00 PM | Women's Crew

Results Photo Gallery

SARASOTA, Fla. – All three Brown crews advanced to Saturday's A/B semifinals in their respective races, securing three spots in Sunday's Grand and Petite Finals in the process. Friday marked the first day of the 2022 NCAA Championship at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. Crews were welcomed with fantastic conditions throughout the day.

The Varsity 8 won its heat and the Varsity 4 finished second in its heat to advance directly to tomorrow's A/B semifinals. The Second Varsity 8 crew took third in the morning heat and second in the afternoon repechage to advance to the top semifinal tomorrow.

"We had a solid day of racing and we learned some lessons that we hope will help us in our semis tomorrow," said associate head coach Phoebe Murphy.

The Varsity 8 crew, stroked by Caroline Schmitz, opened the Championship with a victory in the fourth heat to advance directly to Saturday's A/B semifinal. Brown and Yale jumped ahead of the field with Brown holding a slight edge at the 500-meter mark. The Bulldogs then pulled ahead and took a half-second lead at the midpoint of the race.

From there, the Bears found another gear and made up nearly two seconds in the third leg of the race to pass the Ivy rival and take a 1.9-second win with a time of 6:13.306. Southern Methodist, the AAC automatic qualifier, clocked a time of 6:18.181 to finish third.

The Second Varsity 8 crew hit the water less than an hour after the V8 boat and were sandwiched between #4 Stanford and #13 Princeton. The Cardinal and Tigers pulled away early with Stanford holding a slight lead over Princeton through 500 meters. The leading duo pulled away from the field with Stanford posting a time of 6:14.782 and Princeton posting a time of 6:19.761.

The Bears finished third with a time of 6:27.844 and returned to the water in the afternoon for the repechages.

The Varsity 4 boat took the water a half hour after the 2V8 and quickly separated from the pack alongside Princeton and Cal for a three-boat race. The Tigers held off a Brown charge in the third leg of the race and Bruno held off a push from the Golden Bears in the final 500 meters to finish second.

The Tigers posted a time of 6:54.445 with Brown clocking in at 7:00.284 and Cal finishing at 7:02.447. Oregon State finished fourth with a time of 7:18.101, more than 15 seconds ahead of fifth-place Jacksonville.

In the afternoon reps, Brown's 2V8 raced in Lane 3 in the alongside ten-seed Ohio State, 14-seed Duke, 17-seed USC, 18-seed Gonzaga, 19-seed Boston U., and 22-seed Jacksonville.

The Bears jumped to an early lead with the Buckeyes and Blue Devils also separating from the pack. The Bears held the lead at the halfway mark of the race, but the Buckeyes charged to pass the Bears and take a 2.5-second win. Brown finished with a time of 6:26.058 to finish 9.5 seconds ahead of Duke to qualify for tomorrow's A/B semifinals.

The Bruno V8 crew will race at 8:36 a.m. tomorrow morning in the first semifinal. The Bears are in Lane 4 and will race against SMU, Cal, Texas, Ohio State, and Penn. In the second semifinal, Virginia, Washington, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and Michigan will vie for the three Grand Finals slots.

The 2V8 crew will race at 9:24 a.m. tomorrow in the first lane in the first semifinal. The Bears will race against Cal, Washington, Texas, Princeton, and Penn with the top-three finishers to the Grand Finals. In the second semifinal, Michigan, Virginia, Yale, Stanford, SMU, and Ohio State will race.

The V4 boat is set to race in the first semifinal at 10:12 a.m. in Lane 5 alongside Rutgers, Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Virginia. In the second semifinal, Cal, Ohio State, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and USC will square off.

Only one crew seeded outside the top-12 in each race qualified for tomorrow's A/B semifinals. The 13th-seeded Virginia Cavaliers are in the V8 A/B semis, the 13th-seeded Princeton Tigers are in the 2V8 A/B semis, and the 15th-seeded Rutgers Scarlet Knights are in the V4 A/B semis.

Along with Brown, nine other crews qualified for the A/B semifinals in all three races: Cal, Michigan, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Yale. Penn and SMU qualified for the A/B semis in both eight boats. Rutgers and USC qualified for the top semis in the Varsity 4.

Friday Results:
Varsity 8 Heat 4 – 9:36 a.m.
1. Brown – 6:13.306
2. Yale – 6:15.202
3. SMU – 6:18.181
4. Virginia – 6:26.713
5. Northeastern – 6:40.316
6. Rhode Island – 7:00.823

B – Beate Kaz
2 – Ellie Baker
3 – Olivia Vavasour
4 – Limor Dubrovsky
5 – Zoe HasBrouck
6 – Hannah Yazdani
7 – Dahlia Levine
S – Caroline Schmitz
C – Maya Barnard

Second Varsity 8 Heat 4 – 10:24 a.m.
1. Stanford – 6:14.782
2. Princeton – 6:19.761
3. Brown – 6:27.844
4. Syracuse – 6:34.011
5. Rhode Island – 7:01.394
6. Jacksonville – 7:02.414

Second Varsity 8 Repechage 2 – 4:48 p.m.
1. Ohio State – 6:23.552
2. Brown – 6:26.058
3. Duke – 6:35.512
4. USC – 6:42.248
5. Boston U. – 6:49.620
6. Gonzaga – 6:53.514
7. Jacksonville – 7:00.864

B – Amanda Pyne
2 – Bridget O'Callahan
3 – Ruby O'Keeffe
4 – Freya Keto
5 – Emily Jaudon
6 – Greta Filor
7 – Nadia Vondeling
S – Clara Warmath
C – Molly Lundberg

Varsity 4 Heat 3 – 11 a.m.
1. Princeton – 6:54.445
2. Brown – 7:00.284
3. Cal – 7:02.447
4. Oregon St. – 7:18.101
5. Jacksonville – 7:33.941
6. Boston U. – 7:45.559

B – Eliza Atwood
2 – Ashley Giannetti
3 – Jessica Hooper
S – Bisbee Scott
C – Kayden Obsitnik

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