The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
No. 4 Rowing advances all three boats to A-B semifinals at NCAA Championships
05.26.2017 | Rowing
All three boats remain in national title contention through the first of three days of competition.
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WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – No. 4 Texas collected second-place finishes and automatic A-B semifinal entries for all three boats Friday in the first of three days at the 2017 NCAA Division I Rowing Championships at Mercer Lake.
All three Longhorns boats (I Eight, II Eight and Four) remain in contention for national titles and have ensured themselves no worse than top-12 national finishes at the 22-team regatta.
Placement in the "A-B" semifinals gives the participating teams a chance to qualify for Sunday's grand final (championship final) in each event. Teams qualify for the "A-B" semifinals by placing among the top-two in their day one morning heats or among the top-two in day one afternoon repechage heats.
Texas' varsity eight (I Eight) opened early leads over Indiana, Syracuse, Northeastern and Jacksonville inside the first 500 meters and remained among the top-two with Stanford from start to finish. Stanford won the heat in 6:07.415, and Texas crossed the finish line at 2,000 meters in 6:10.545 to automatically advance to Saturday's A-B semifinal (either 8:36 a.m. or 8:48 a.m. ET).
The Longhorns' second varsity eight (II Eight) found itself in fourth place behind Michigan, Stanford and Iowa through the opening 500 meters before methodically climbing into automatic-qualifying position.
Texas passed Iowa by the 1,000-meter mark and broke nearly even with then second-place Stanford at 1,500 meters. The Longhorns out-split the Cardinal by about a second in the final 500 meters to push into second place at 6:20.749, while Stanford took third at 6:21.435. Michigan won the heat at 6:18.479. Texas competes in the II Eight A-B semifinal Saturday at either 9:24 a.m. or 9:36 a.m. ET.
Texas' four boat entered the competition with a No. 9 seed and was the third-highest seed in its five-boat heat. But, only top-seeded Washington topped the Longhorns in their heat, as Texas held on to second place throughout the race and qualified for the A-B semifinals with room to spare.
Texas led Iowa by three one-hundredths of a second at 500 meters and distanced itself from the Hawkeyes as the race progressed. Washington won the heat at 6:55.904 while Texas took second comfortably at 7:01.838. Iowa placed third at 7:11.804. The Longhorns race again Saturday at either 10:12 a.m. or 10:24 a.m. ET.
Top-three finishes in their respective A-B semifinal races Saturday would send the Longhorns to Sunday's grand finals (1st through 6th place overall finishes). The bottom three finishers in each A-B semifinal move on to Sunday's petite finals (7th through 12th place overall finishes).
POST-REGATTA COMMENTS
Texas head coach Dave O'Neill
On the I Eight: We met last night and said the job for the day is to go straight to the semi-final. We got that done. It wasn't their best race of the year and that's actually fairly encouraging. If that was their best effort possible then I'd think that we'd be in a tough spot. We know what we need to do and they're looking forward to coming back tomorrow and giving it their best shot. It's a good crew and we had talked about what you need to get done. They missed an opportunity on a few things today and they simply got beat, so it's a good thing that we have a good chance and will be right back at it tomorrow.
On the II Eight: We knew that Michigan was going to be tough and Stanford, we figured that was going to be a good crew as well. So, we reconfigured the lineup for that second eight and we think it worked really well. They have some really good base speed and I think that really showed. They've had to fight and come from behind all year long and so the goal for today was a good focused effort, because they have a lot of enthusiasm. They were maybe a bit too controlled and then realized at the half, "We really need to start going for it." It's good that they were able to shift the pace, were able to shift gears and get the job done. I'm really proud of them.
On the Four: You never know coming in because everyone reconfigures things and is asking, "What's going to happen here?" The four finishing second is a good solid effort. I'm really proud of them. We just met and talked about what they can do better for tomorrow. We've got our work cut out for them. For all boats, in terms of the times, we're actually in pretty good shape and we're going to do everything we can to get the job done tomorrow.
On day two coming up: Day one, top-two and you're straight to the (A-B) semifinal and then we kind of look at where we are. But now in the semifinal it's top three and you're in (the grand final), so in some ways it's easier. But, the competition gets a lot tougher. Having been here for a number of years and understanding the rhythm of how NCAAs goes and the grind, with how to build on from one day to the next…we'll be prepared for tomorrow.
2017 NCAA Division I Rowing Championships
I Eight – Heat 3
Texas Crew: Shannon Barry (coxswain), Ljiljana Josic, Pippa Loveard, Gia Doonan, Milica Slijepcevic, Mariam Soufi, Alice Bowyer, Emily Froehlich, Fanny Bon
1 Stanford, 6:07.415
2 TEXAS, 6:10.545
3 Indiana, 6:18.888
4 Syracuse, 6:20.965
5 Northeastern, 6:22.905
6 Jacksonville, 6:51.743
II Eight – Heat 4
Texas Crew: Samantha Ennis (coxswain), Margaret Dail, Inga Gasbakk, Alexandra Watson, Alexa McAuliffe, Sarah Cadman, Jillian Renly, Amy Louise Smith, Rachel Fleming
1 Michigan, 6:18.479
2 TEXAS, 6:20.749
3 Stanford, 6:21.435
4 Iowa, 6:38.717
5 UCF, 6:54.625
6 Massachusetts, 7:05.232
Four – Heat 1
Texas Crew: Ashley Jacobs (coxswain), Allyson Hite, Courtney Crossley, Sara Neaves, Barb Klavin
1 Washington, 6:55.904
2 TEXAS, 7:01.838
3 Iowa, 7:11.804
4 Notre Dame, 7:14.721
5 Virginia, 7:17.324
Players Mentioned
