ANNAPOLIS, Md. - All of the long hours spent on the Severn River and on the ergs in Hubbard Hall perfecting their craft culminates on Friday for the members of the Navy women's rowing team with action at the 2025 Patriot League Championship. The league-wide regatta will see the Mids aiming to return to the top of the Patriot League hierarchy and earn a berth into the NCAA Championship that will be held later this month. Winners of seven of the last nine league championship regattas, the Mids will be on the hunt for Patriot League title number ten on the Cooper River in Pennsauken, New Jersey with four boats in action. All-time, Navy has won league titles in 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
The racing on Friday begins at 8:00 a.m. with preliminary heats before advancing to championship finals at 1:30 p.m. All of the action will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live results provided as well.
ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest.
Navy's official race times for the morning prelims are set for 8:00 AM - Second Varsity Four (Heat 1) ... 8:30 AM - First Varsity Four (Heat 2) ... 8:40 AM - Second Varsity Eight (Heat 1) ... 9:10 AM - First Varsity Eight (Heat 2). Each classification will have two heats of either four or five crews. The top-three finishing boats in each of the two heats advance to grand final action, while the remaining squads will race in the petite finals for positions, seven through nine. This is the first year that the 2V4 event will be raced at the championship regatta as previously there were only three classifications of racing.
The championship will be scored on a weighted scale, with 4.5 points for the winner of the Second Varsity Four race, 45 points for the Varsity Four, 90 points for the Second Varsity Eight and 180 points for the Varsity Eight. The school accumulating the most total points in the four races will be crowned the Patriot League champion. If there is a tie for first place in the final point total, the higher-ranked finisher in the Varsity Eight race will be named the Patriot League champion. Awards will also be given for Coach of the Year and Boat of the Year.
The complete field at the Cooper River this Friday will consist of Boston University, Bucknell, Colgate, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Loyola, MIT and Navy.
Navy at the Patriot League Championship
Competing at the Patriot League Championship since 2005, the Mids have won 29 individual boat titles: seven in the first varsity eight, 11 in the second varsity eight and 11 in the first varsity four events. The program swept the three-race slate completely in 2005, 2015, 2019 and 2021. These boat titles had direct impact on Navy taking home the league team championship nine times: 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023. (There was no championship in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Last Five Patriot League Championships
2024: V8-2nd ... 2V8-4th ... V4-2nd
Boston 54 team points // Navy 44 // MIT 44 ... *V8 tie-breaker to Navy
2023: V8-1st ... 2V8-2nd ... V4-2nd
Navy 51 team points // Boston 51 ... *V8 tie-breaker to Navy
2022: V8-3rd ... 2V8-2nd ... V4-1st
Boston 50 team points // Bucknell 48 // Navy 46
2021: V8-1st ... 2V8-1st ... V4-1st
Navy 54 team points // Bucknell 47
2020: Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
Most Recent Patriot League Championship - May 17, 2024 in Pennsauken, N.J.
The Navy women's rowing team had one goal in mind on Friday, defend its Patriot League Championship crown and earn the conference's automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Championship. While fast in the morning's qualifying heats, the Mids ran into a determined Boston University squad in the afternoon that was looking to avenge last year's tie-breaking loss to Navy. At the completion of three grand final contests on the Cooper River on Friday afternoon, BU was victorious in all three classifications to claim the team crown, holding off Navy, who placed runner-up in the team standings, as well as in both the first varsity eight and varsity four races.
On the final leaderboard, Boston's sweep resulted in 54 points. Navy and MIT tied for second with 44 points each, though the Mids officially finished in second due to the tie-breaker of the higher finisher in the first varsity eight. Georgetown just missed making the podium as the Hoyas placed fourth with 36 points. Bucknell and Holy Cross were separated by two points in fifth and sixth place with point totals of 29 and 27, respectively. The standings were rounded out by Colgate (16), Lehigh (11) and Loyola (9).
With Boston University earning victories in the first two events, Navy knew that it would need to win and receive some help with teams surpassing the Terriers. As they had done throughout the previous contents, the Terriers broke out with a strong opening sprint. Over the first minute-plus of rowing action, Navy found itself in a three-way battle for second-place with MIT and Holy Cross. As the Crusaders slowly fell off the pace, the Mids began to move out on the Engineers, while keeping contact with the Terriers. Passing the halfway mark, Navy picked up its speed and made a deliberate move seat-by-seat up BU's boat. The Terriers had a retort for the Mids' pressure and held on for a 3.446-second margin of victory, 6:42.028 to 6:45.474. MIT posted a time of 6:52.609 to place third overall.
Friday's Schedule of Events
Heat Racing
8:00 AM - Second Varsity Four (Heat 1)
Boston Univ., Bucknell, Lehigh, Loyola, Navy
8:30 AM - First Varsity Four (Heat 2)
Colgate, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Navy
8:40 AM - Second Varsity Eight (Heat 1)
Boston Univ., Bucknell, Lehigh, Loyola, Navy
9:10 AM - First Varsity Eight (Heat 2)
Colgate, Holy Cross, MIT
Finals
1:30 PM - Second Varsity Four - Petite Final (Positions 7-9)
1:40 PM - First Varsity Four - Petite Final
1:50 PM - Second Varsity Eight - Petite Final
2:00 PM - First Varsity Eight - Petite Final
2:10 PM - Second Varsity Four - Grand Final (Positions 1-6)
2:20 PM - First Varsity Four - Grand Final
2:30 PM - Second Varsity Eight - Grand Final
2:40 PM - First Varsity Eight - Grand Final
**Note, the awards ceremony is slated to begin at 3:30 PM
