Sarasota's Benderson Park opened for NCAA business yesterday, as 36 schools arrived to get in those final practice strokes of the season before racing for the Women's Championship starts on Friday.
36 teams makes this the largest NCAA Women's field ever to compete at the Sarasota venue: in 2021's event here, the D2 and D3 invitations were reduced (to 4 from 6 and to 6 from 8 respectively), and the 2018 NCAAs was held here before the D2 format was shifted to invite 6 full teams instead of 4 teams and two At-Large schools that brought only their first eights. No word as yet on the official number of entries for the Rigger's Croquet Tournament.
As the crews practiced, there was an emphasis on routine and focus despite the high stakes of the racing to come.
"With racing starting tomorrow, today is about feeling physically and mentally prepared by getting used to the course, rehearsing parts of the race, and controlling what we can control," said Seattle Pacific Head Coach Caitlin McClain.
She also pointed out that there was also some benefit to feeding off the excitement of the venue: "We try to strike the balance between internal and external – staying focused on our process while also drawing energy from the experience of being at NCAAs. We told the team we are proud of them and excited about what they are capable of!"
For Josh Adam, USC Head Coach, keeping his team in the right headspace during practice today was all about keeping it about them:
"We focused on what we can control: us. We rehearsed the same warmup we have used all season. We danced to our own goofy playlists. And we took another opportunity to compete to be our best selves inside the rhythm of our boats. Most of all, we focused on having fun going as fast as we possibly can."
Duke Coach Megan Cooke Carcagno, whose team is among those making a return trip to the NCAAs this year, observed that even just being back in the familiar environs of Sarasota, where her Blue Devils raced both last year's championships and the Big Ten Invite in April, was beneficial.
"Duke loves racing here," she said. "We aim to get down here at least once a year between invites, NCAAs and training trips. Familiarity is a good thing we have going with a lot of our athletes. Taking the trip earlier this spring was also nice given the uncertainly we all faced in 2020 and 2021."
For some of the teams, this 2022 NCAAs has been a long time coming: Penn is making its first team appearance in the 25 year history of the event, BU has not been since back-to-back appearances in 2014-2013, Oregon State returns for the first time since 2009, and Tufts' last bid was in 2016, when they were an At-Large Eight before D3 made the switch to all full-team bids. The Jumbos have not earned a team appearance-and the accompanying opportunity to be in the hunt for the D3 championship-since 2006.
St. Mary's College of Maryland has only been "waiting" for six years, but those years have been the entire history of the team as a varsity program. So, when they won their first MARC Championship to earn one of D3's Automatic Bids, it was, according to Head Coach Anna Lindgren-Striecher, "a huge accomplishment."
"Starting with the class of 2020, we've had truly excellent athlete leadership all through COVID, which put us in the position to be a stronger and deeper team than ever this year," she said. "This year's squad stepped up their expectations for themselves and each other from the start of the fall semester, and put together a really special spring season to get us here."
In D2, the return of the full 6 school field was welcome news to McClain's Seattle Pacific Falcons, who did not make the 4-team field in 2021, despite being ranked as high as #2 that season, after losing the GNAC Championship to Central Oklahoma.
"Hearing our name during the Selection Show was surreal," said McClain. "After last year and the close races of this season, we were holding our breath literally and figuratively! Having the team recognized with a bid was cathartic in a way; it was both a release and a rebirth. The SPU Falcons are truly racing for their teammates--past, present, and future!"
Some teams are back after absences that preceded COVID, like Jacksonville and Southern California.
Jacksonville saw a string of 6 MAAC Championships and NCAA bids come to an end in 2019, after a trailer accident on the trip to the MAAC Championship damaged their boats and derailed their hopes to repeat. After weathering the 2020 season's cancellation, a COVID outbreak on the eve of the 2021 conference championship scuttled their next chance, and so Mike Lane's team comes to Sarasota this year after what became a three year journey to "Bring Back the MAAC"--and return to NCAAs.
"We are fired up to get back to the NCAAs," said Lane. "It is such an awesome experience: how could you not be excited? We have stayed very internal as we have lead up to these championships. Our goal is simple: go out and have a great race and the rest will take care of itself."
Southern California, competing in deep Pac-12 Conference, found it difficult to earn At Large bids in 2019 and 2021, so hearing their name on Selection Tuesday was exciting, and the end-result of both hard work and a shift in recruiting, according to their head coach.
"This year's selection was a significant indicator that we have taken a step forward in our team environment and level of competitiveness at USC," said Adam. "Two years ago we shifted our recruiting strategy to bring in women that fit the Trojan Family. The entire support staff and student-athletes on the team bought in to what we were trying to do."
"Last year we took a giant step forward in our team culture as we responded to the challenges of the COVID pandemic as a staff and team. This year, with the largest recruiting and transfer class we have ever had helping us, we set out to prove that our culture and training environment had the ability to place us back in the top-tier of rowing programs. Selection has given us one more opportunity this season to prove that we have taken steps forward."
The complete list of teams competing can be found here. Racing starts at 8:12 am EDT tomorrow, with heats for the D3 2V Eights; D1 Heats start at 9:00 am, with the 1V Eights; D2 racing will end the morning session, starting with the D2 Eights Heats at 11:24 am.
The schedule and results are now posted here as well as to our NCAA Resources page.
The D1 heats assignments can be found here, and the complete D1 seedings can be found here. When that information becomes available for D2 and D3, it will be added to the NCAA Resources page.
Notes from the Course
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