ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off its fourth straight Patriot League Championship in 2018, the Navy women's rowing team will get on the water in its first official competition of the 2019 season with action at the Cooper Sprints in Cherry Hill, N.J. on Sunday. Racing on the Cooper River, the Mids will have five boats entered in the day-long regatta. Navy's Sunday begins at 8 a.m. with heat racing for the first varsity eight crew. Three hours later at 11 a.m., the finals commence and are scheduled to run through 1 p.m.
The field for the Cooper Sprints is 15 teams deep and is headlined by four teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in this week's USRowing/CRCA poll: No. 20 Duke, R/V Navy, R/V North Carolina and R/V Oklahoma.
Navy has five crews entered in Sunday's festivities with three varsity eights and a pair varsity fours. The first varsity eight races at 8:18 a.m. in one of three five-team heats before the second eight takes to the Cooper River water at 8:36 a.m. 27 minutes later at 9:03 a.m, the first varsity four crew will compete followed by the third varsity eights at 9:30 a.m. The final preliminary race will be the 2V4 event at 9:57 a.m.
The Mids' 2018 season concluded with a great amount of success. The run of excellence began last May on the Cooper River at the Patriot League Championship. After posting the fastest qualifying times in the morning heats, the Mids came out in the afternoon grand finals and won the first and second varsity eight competitions to finish atop the standings with 50 team points. Navy outpointed Boston University by four as the Terriers came in second with 46 points.
At the 2018 NCAA Championships, the combination of a 14th-place result by the Mids' first varsity four, an 18th by the second varsity eight and a 19th by the first varsity eight allowed Navy to finished a program-best 17th overall in the two-day meet in Sarasota, Fla. The Mids were ranked 18th in the final NCAA DI poll of the season.
Navy returns 18 of the 23 women that competed at the NCAA Championships last spring. Julia Bailey (Arlington, Va.), Megan Hanson (Woody Creek, Colo.) and Brianna Warren (Houston, Texas) make up the senior class that will be leading the squad in 2019. Bailey was selected to serve as the team's captain.
This past fall, the team competed in a pair of events the Navy Day Regatta on October 13 and the Rutgers Fall Classic on November 3.
Race Schedule
Heats:
8:18 a.m. - Varsity Eight (Heat #3: Villanova, URI, Oklahoma, Navy, Drexel)
8:36 a.m. - Second Varsity Eight (Heat #2: Villanova, Oklahoma, Drexel, URI, Navy)
9:03 a.m. - Varsity Four (Heat #2: Drexel, Kansas, Clemson, West Virginia, Navy)
9:30 a.m. - Third Varsity Eight (Heat #2: Boston College, Rutgers 'A', Duke 'B', Kansas, Navy)
9:57 a.m. - Second Varsity Four (Heat #3: Rutgers, SMU, Navy, West Virginia)
Finals:
11:03 a.m. - Varsity Eight
11:30 a.m. - Second Varsity Eight
11:57 a.m. - Varsity Four
12:24 p.m. - Third Varsity Eight
12:42 p.m. - Second Varsity Four
