INDIANAPOLIS – In a storyline that has played out far too often for the Navy women's rowing program this season, Mother Nature was at the forefront of the action on Friday at the 2019 NCAA Championship. Scheduled to kick their three-race morning slate off at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning, the Mids were instead met with an un-rowable stretch of water at the Indianapolis Rowing Center after storms on Thursday night littered the course with debris. Finally after a seven-plus hour delay, the Mids were able to compete against the nation's best in an abbreviated first day of action at the regatta in the late afternoon. Racing its first and second varsity eight boats, as well as its first varsity four boat, Navy's effort on Friday was led by a fourth-place finish by its V8 crew.
Coming into the regatta seeded 15th overall, the Mids' first varsity eight crew was matched up against No. 2 Princeton, No. 7 Brown, No. 10 Iowa and No. 18 UCF in qualifying heat number two. Minus a slight upset of Iowa (6:18.287) over Brown (6:19.236) in a race for second and third place, the seeding played out as expected as Navy placed fourth overall with a time of 6:25.082. Princeton won the heat at 6:16.771, while UCF was well off the pace in fifth at 6:40.070. With the weather delay cancelling repechage racing, the top-three boats automatically advanced to Saturday's A/B Semifinals. The Mids' fourth-place result moved them on to race in the C/D Semifinals on Saturday morning beginning at 10:10 a.m.
A similar plot unfolded in the second varsity as the No. 1 seed Washington was the class of the five-boat field with a winning time of 6:19.507. The next two qualifying positions went to No. 9 Brown and No. 8 Princeton with respective 6:25.514 and 6:29.079 times. Racing with UCF down the stretch, Navy came up just short of the Golden Knights (6:41.260) and had to settle for fifth place at 6:44.684. Navy and UCF were seeded 17th and 16th, respectively coming into Friday's action. Next up for the Mids on Saturday will be the C/D Semifinals at 10:30 a.m.
The third boat on the water in Indianapolis on Friday was Navy's first varsity four crew. Stanford, the number two seed in the entire V4 event, handled its business with a winning time of 7:01.024. No. 10 Yale and No. 7 Duke earned the final two advancing slots with 7:12.385 and 7:15.157 efforts. No. 15 UCF and No. 18 Navy rounded out the five-team field with respective times of 7:22.920 and 7:29.022. The C/D Semifinals for the varsity four division kicks off at 10:40 a.m. on Saturday morning.
"It was a tough start to racing with multiple delays to the schedule due to debris and a change in the progression through the races," remarked head coach
Joe Schlosberg. "The workers here in Indy did a fantastic job clearing the course and allowing us to get some racing in.
"The races we had were good contests and we fought hard. There's room to improve, which is good as we move forward through the weekend."
Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Heat #2
Princeton – 6:16.771
Iowa – 6:18.287
Brown – 6:19.236
Navy – 6:25.082
UCF – 6:40.070
Next Up: C/D Semifinals (Saturday, 10:10 AM)
Second Varsity Eight
Heat #1
Washington – 6:19.507
Brown – 6:25.514
Princeton – 6:29.079
UCF – 6:41.260
Navy – 6:44.684
Next Up: C/D Semifinals (Saturday, 10:30 AM)
Varsity Four
Heat #2
Stanford – 7:01.024
Yale – 7:12.385
Duke – 7:15.157
UCF – 7:22.920
Navy – 7:29.022
Next Up: C/D Semifinals (Saturday, 10:40 AM)
Boat Lineups
