ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After taking part in the season-opening Oak Ridge Cardinal Invite during the weekend of March 15-16 versus a top-flight national field of opponents, the Navy women's rowing team will get the chance to test itself against more regional opposition at Saturday's Doc Hosea Invitational. The Mids (2-1) will get their first look at the waters of the Cooper River in Camden, New Jersey as they'll race again on there in May at the Patriot League Championship. Navy is one of 12 institutions slated for racing on Saturday and will have entries in four different classifications. The Mids' V8 crew will be first on the water starting at 8:00 a.m. with heat action running until 9:30 a.m. After a 90-minute break, the finals are scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The field for the Doc Hosea Invitational consists of two teams that are ranked in this week's CRCA Coaches Top-25 Poll: No. 9 Rutgers and No. 12 Penn, as well as two other programs that competed at the 2024 NCAA Championship Regatta: Northeastern (CAA Champ) and Rhode Island (A-10 Champ). The rest of the field will be made up of Bucknell, Drexel, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Navy, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Villanova.

The Mids will be busy throughout the day with 10 opportunities to race on the Cooper River. Navy's first varsity eight will be first up at 8:00 a.m. in a heat against Bucknell, Rhode Island, Rutgers, St. Joe's and Villanova. That same group of six institutions will battle it out in the first heat of the second varsity eight competition at 8:20 a.m. and the first varsity four at 8:40 a.m. The lower boats will continued the action with the Mids' 2V4 'A' entry racing at 9:00 a.m. and 'B' entry racing at 9:10 a.m. The top-two finishers of each heat, as well as the crews with the next two fastest overall times will advance to the grand final, while the remaining six teams will race in the petite final. 

Following a brief break to re-group, recover and game plan, the finals will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the petite finals of the first varsity with the grand finals at 11:10 a.m. Each of the divisional finals will go off in 10-minute intervals with the grand final of the second varsity four concluding the regatta for Navy at 12:10 p.m.

Navy is a regular participant at the Doc Hosea Invitational. After COVID cancelled the popular East Coast regatta in 2020 and 2021, and weather disrupted the scheduled 2022 and 2023 contests, the 2024 meet went off without a hitch last March 30. At the 2024 invite, all five of the Mids' entries raced in petite finals. After a brief break to re-strategize following the heat races, Navy's outcomes increased exponentially with a trio of victories. Navy's second varsity eight was the first crew to cross the finish line atop the standings as the boat cruised to a 4.44-second victory over Georgetown, 6:55.12 to 6:59.56. The Mids' third varsity eight flipped its fortunes in its petite final as the Mids tallied another near four-second margin of victory as they bested the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 7:15.05 to 7:19.02. Navy's last petite final victory came from its second varsity four lineup that controlled the seven-boat final with a victorious time of 7:46.10, 4.7 seconds ahead of Penn's 7:50.80.

Race Schedule
Qualifying Heats (V8-2V8-V4 vs. Bucknell, Rhode Island, Rutgers, Saint Joseph's and Villanova)
8:00 AM - First Varsity Eight 
8:20 AM - Second Varsity Eight 
8:40 AM - First Varsity Four
9:00 AM - Second Varsity Four: Heat 1 (Georgetown, Navy, Rhode Island, Rutgers 2V4 and Rutgers 4V4)
9:10 AM - Second Varsity Four: Heat 2 (Drexel, Navy 3V4, Northeastern, Penn, Rutgers 3V4 and Temple)

Finals
11:00 & 11:10 AM - First Varsity Eight (Petite, Grand)
11:20 & 11:30 AM - Second Varsity Eight (Petite, Grand)
11:40 & 11:50 AM - First Varsity Four (Petite, Grand)
12:00 & 12:10 PM - Second Varsity Four (Petite, Grand)