Rowing announces 2025 schedule

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Rowing head coach Dave O'Neill has announced the complete 2025 schedule, which features several dates to catch the Longhorns in action in Austin. Texas, fresh off the 2024 NCAA National crown, has won three of the last four NCAA Championships.

"The race schedule for 2025 is quite exciting as we'll race the top teams in the country, travel coast-to-coast and host two terrific events at home in Austin," said head coach Dave O'Neill. "After a couple early season scrimmages to get us ready, the season will kick off in earnest at the San Diego Crew Classic. This has been an important event for us the last few years, and we know we'll be tested right away."

The Longhorns open the 2025 campaign on Feb. 21-22 with a scrimmage at UCF in Orlando, Fla., at the UCF Intercollegiate Rowing Center that will coincide with the Heart of Texas Regatta, a one-day regatta on Feb. 22, taking place at Lady Bird Lake in Austin. The Knights finished fourth at the 2024 Big 12 Championship.

Texas will then partake in a "rust buster" in Dallas with a two-day dual against SMU and Oklahoma on March 8-9 on White Rock Lake. It will mark the fourth-straight year Texas will travel north to scrimmage at SMU. The four-time defending American Athletic Conference Champion Mustangs finished 21st at last year's NCAA championships.

Next up, the Horns head to the San Diego Crew Classic on March 29-30, which is regarded as America's premier spring regatta. Racing is held in Mission Bay Park on the shores of Fiesta Bay-Crown Point. Last season, Texas won three grand finals and finished runner-up in a fourth at the San Diego Crew Classic, picking up victories in the I Eight, II Eight and Four – the third-consecutive year that UT swept the three events.

The Longhorns then return to Austin to host Michigan on April 12 at Lady Bird Lake. It will be the fifth-straight year Texas and Michigan will meet during the regular season. The Wolverines won the 2024 Big Ten Championship and leveraged a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships. In 2024, Texas traveled north to Ann Arbor, Mich., and saw four boats earn wins against the Wolverines for the second-consecutive year.

"Our annual dual against Michigan is at home this year, and we're looking to racing such a solid team in front of our boathouse on Lady Bird Lake."

Texas will conclude the regular season hosting the Longhorn Invite on April 25-26 at Lake Walter E. Long, which will include many of the nation's premier rowing programs: Stanford, UCF, SMU and Oklahoma. Stanford has won three-straight conference titles and finished runner-up to the Longhorns at last year's NCAA Championship.

"The Longhorn Invite will once again be a focal point for our regular season. We'll see OU, SMU, and UCF in a proper 2K race, and the big challenge will come from Stanford as they're making the trip again this year. No doubt this will be one of the most anticipated races of the year, and we'll need to be fully prepared."

The first-ever SEC Rowing Championship will be held in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on May 11 with Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee participating. The conference office will announce an official site location at a later date.

"The first ever SEC Championship will be a big event. While there may only be four teams competing, the quality is very high, and we will be challenged, particularly by Tennessee. This should be a terrific morning of racing."

Texas will look to defend its National Championship at the 2025 NCAA Championships on May 30-June 1 at Lake Mercer in Windsor, N.J. Last season, the Horns won the program's third NCAA crown and became just the third program to win three NCAA titles over a four-year stretch, joining Brown (1999-2000, '02) and Ohio State (2013-15). It was also the first time Texas has won two events at the same national championship. Texas took home the crown in the I Eight and Four while finishing runner-up in the Second Eight, respectively.

"Of course, all of this leads to the NCAA Championship where our focus has been since the start of training in August. This is always a fantastic event, and it will be good to be back at Mercer where our team earned its first podium finish a few years back."

Remaining start times and other information will be announced at a later date.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics