row2k Features
Collegiate Women's Weekend Roundup: May 16, 2019
May 16, 2019
Max Borghard

The Bates V8 has taken over the top spot in the DIII rankings again

Most of the Division 1 schools were off in preparation for their conference championships, but with a few schools lining it up at the start, lets take a look at this past weekend's action before previewing next weekend's Championship weekend.

USC #15 - UCLA
Racing on a Saturday evening at the Marina Del Rey on the Ballona Creek, it was USC who dominated the day by winning all three Varsity events by double-digit margins. It was the kind of performance the Trojans needed as they are currently on the inside track of making the NCAA's, but they will have one more hurdle to clear at the PAC-12 conference championships to gain that At-Large bid.

Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta
The Dad Vail Regatta, running for more than 60 years, took place on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. In the V8 race, the BU Lights raced up in the openweight events for a weekend and brought home the V8 title for the third year in a row. The Terriers finished almost a full length ahead of the local favorite Drexel with Georgetown a close third five seats back, and Bucknell a foot short of beating the Hoyas. Temple finished fifth open water back to fourth. In the 2V8 event, another local favorite Temple Owls won by a little open water to Bucknell and Drexel taking third. The V4 was won by BU Lights with Lafayette second and Grand Valley third.

The BU Lightweight Women's V8+ won the Open V8+ at Dad Vails
The BU Lightweight Women's V8+ won the Open V8+ at Dad Vails

In the Division 2 V8 race saw some tight racing with three ranked schools in the Grand Finals. FIT #3, who was ranked one spot behind UC San Diego #2 in the polls, finished one spot ahead of UCSD Diego to earn a 2-second victory. Humboldt, ranked #6 this week, was quite competitive finishing three-quarters of a length off UC San Diego.

The D3 Final saw Vassar take home the gold over Washington College and Stockton another 2 seconds back.

Canisius - Colgate
Racing on Lake Moraine in Hamilton, NY, Canisius and Colgate raced over 1150 meters, twice in the morning and again in the afternoon for two more pieces. The V8 produced the best racing, with Colgate winning the first piece by 5 seconds and the last three by an average margin of 2 seconds. Colgate continued their winning ways by taking all the pieces by about 2 lengths. The V4 from Colgate won all of their pieces over Canisius easily.

The Stanford Lightweights showed speed against Openweight opponents as well
The Stanford Lightweights showed speed against Openweight opponents as well

Stanford (Lights #1) - Central Oklahoma (D2 #1) - Western Washington (D2 #4)
The reigning Lights Champions played host to the reigning D2 Champions and a former D2 Champions at the Redwood Shores in a rare three-way match race. The Cardinal flexed their muscles beating Central Oklahoma and Western Washington (in separate races) by several lengths, showing the rest of the lightweight schools they are ready to defend their title. In the V4 event Stanford won comfortable over each of their opponents but not closer margins than the eight's margin. When the two D2 schools got to line up directly against each other, the V8 produced the best race with Central Oklahoma grabbing the win by 3 seconds over Western Washington in a very competitive race. The V4 was won by Central Oklahoma by 12 seconds ahead of Western Washington.

National Invitational Rowing Championships
With the top nine ranked D3 schools meeting in Worcester, it had to have made the selection process easier. Bates College looks quite poised to win another NCAA title as they took the V8 and 2V8 by open water. Wellesley was runner-up in the V8, while it was WPI a close third. In the 2V8 it was Tufts taking the silver and Wesleyan taking the bronze.

Just a few days later, the NCAA made their selections for the four At-Large schools to join Bates, Ithaca, Washington, and WPI. The four schools were #2 Wellesley, #4 Wesleyan, #6 Hamilton, and from deeper in the poll #10 Pacific Lutheran. At the NIRC, having a spread out field on the East Coast provided the opportunity for PLU to leapfrog ahead of schools ranked ahead of them to earn the final At-Large bid.

NEXT WEEK'S RACES TO WATCH
All eleven conference finals in one weekend should keep race fans busy following the these AQ races. With the Atlantic 10's moving their Conference Championship weekend, this is the first time I can remember all 11 champions will be crowned in one weekend. It should make for some great racing as it's an opportunity for crews to make their season by winning medals or qualifying for the NCAA's. As we have seen in the past, teams need to show up and finish the season strong, because a sub-par performance can leave at team home at selection time.

Enjoy the racing!!!

Can the Cal Women's V8+ hold off Washington and Stanford at PAC-12s?
Can the Cal Women's V8+ hold off Washington and Stanford at PAC-12s?

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