No. 3 Rowing preview: NCAA Championships

AUSTIN, Texas – No. 3 Texas Rowing heads to Gainesville, Ga., for the 2026 NCAA Championships on May 29 and May 31 at Lake Lanier. Texas has won three of the last five NCAA titles and will look to win the program's fourth overall this weekend.

Texas earned three No. 2 seeds for this year's national regatta. Texas has made 11-consecutive NCAA Rowing Championship appearances.

The Longhorn 1V8 opens the 2026 NCAA Championships at 7:42 a.m. CT Friday, May 29, in Heat 2 of the I Eight. Texas (lane 3) goes up against Boston University (lane 1), UCF (lane 2), California (lane 4) and Ohio State (lane 5). The II Eight will follow next at 8:14 a.m. in Heat 2. Texas will race in lane 3 vs. Northeastern (lane 1), California (lane 2), Brown (lane 4) and Columbia (lane 5). The IV4 is scheduled to race in lane 3 of Heat 2 at 8:46 a.m. against Boston University (lane 1), California (lane 2), Yale (lane 4) and Michigan (lane 5). Due to forecasted inclement weather on Saturday, the A/B semifinals have been moved to later Friday. The first I Eight A/B semifinal will start at 3:52 p.m. followed by the second A/B semifinal at 4 p.m. The first II Eight A/B semi will start at 4:06 p.m. followed by the second one at 4:16 p.m. The first I Four semi will start at 4:24 p.m. followed by the second one at 4:32 p.m.

The top three boats in each race will advance to A/B semifinals with the remaining boats advancing to the C/D semifinals. The top three boats in the semifinals will advance to the upper final with the remaining boats headed to the lower final on Sunday, May 31. A complete schedule and live results for this weekend can be found here. All three days can be streamed here.

The team championship is composed of 22 teams. Nine conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and the remaining 12 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the championship field. Teams qualifying for the championship are required to field two boats of eight rowers and one boat of four rowers. For the I Eights, II Eights and Fours, all 22 boats will be seeded into four heats.

Rhode Island (Atlantic 10), Stanford (ACC), UCF (Big 12), Washington (Big Ten), Northeastern (CAA), Princeton (Ivy League), Jacksonville (MAAC), UMass (MAC), Boston University (Patriot League) and Oregon State (WCC) earned the nine automatic qualifications via conference championships. Texas, Brown, California, Columbia, Miami (FL), Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia and Yale received at-large selections.

Format/Scoring

The NCAA Rowing champion is determined by total points with points assigned based on the finish in each race. The first-place finisher in the First Varsity Eight will receive 66 points with each subsequent finisher collecting three fewer points – 63 for second, 60 for third, etc. The Second Varsity Eight winner will earn 44 points with each successive finisher collecting two fewer points (42 points for second, 40 points for third, etc.) and the Fours winner will receive 22 points, with the runner-up earning 21 points, third receiving 20 points, etc. Ties will be broken based on the teams' result in the First Eight.

NCAA Championship History

The Horns have recorded a top-eight result in each of the previous 10 national regattas, including a top-four finish in each of the last eight national championships.
Texas has finished inside the top-three in six of the last seven national meets including three national titles, all under head coach Dave O'Neill.
The I Eight has tallied a podium finish in six of the last seven national meets.
The II Eight has notched a top-four finish in five of the last six national regattas.
The 1V4 has six-straight top-three finish at the national regatta.
The Longhorns captured the program's third overall NCAA National Championship and its third in four years to cap the 2024 season. Texas won two individual boat titles with the I Eight and I Four each finishing first.
In 2023, Texas placed fourth in the team standings at the NCAA Division I National Championships at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, N.J. The Longhorns captured the boat championship in the Four for the first time in program history.
Texas won the second of back-to-back national championships in 2022, highlighted by a dominating victory in the Grand Final of the I Eight, also the boat's second consecutive title. UT scored 124 points, equaling the total of Stanford and winning the national championship due to their victory in the First Eight. It marked the second year in a row in which the Longhorns and Cardinal tied for the most points with UT winning with the First Eight result serving as the tiebreaker. The Varsity Four finished in third and the Second Eight placed fourth in their respective races.
The Horns won the first national title in program history at the 2021 NCAA Championships, collecting 126 team points, equaling the total of Stanford and Washington and winning the national championship due to the Longhorns' triumph in the First Eight Grand Final. The Second Varsity and the Varsity Four each finished third in their respective races, earning crucial points for the Horns. The First Eight's victory was also the first national crown for an individual boat in program history.
UT placed a second overall at the 2019 NCAA Championships, collecting 125 points with all three boats finishing in the top three for the first time in program history. The team finish marked Texas' third consecutive year of besting its previous record in NCAA Championship finishes. The First Eight finished second in the grand final, the Second Eight placed second overall, and the Four finished third in the grand final.
The Longhorns finished third in the 2018 NCAA Championships, sending all three boats to the grand final for the first time. The First Eight placed third overall, the Second Eight finished fifth overall, and the Four placed fourth, totaling 115 points.
In 2017, Texas placed fourth overall with 108 points in the final team standings at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Texas placed fourth in the First Eight grand final, first in the Second Eight petite final (seventh place overall) and fourth in the Fours grand final.
The Longhorns placed eighth as a team at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Texas announced its presence at the 2015 NCAA Championships and finished seventh overall in the 22-team regatta with 99 points.
The Longhorns placed fourth in the First Eight grand final, second in the Second Eight petite final and fifth in the Fours petite final at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
Texas sent its varsity eight boats to compete at the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Championship regattas but had not been invited to compete at the Championships as a team until the Longhorns' breakthrough season in 2015. The Texas varsity eight placed sixth in its petite final (6:28.65) at the 2003 NCAA Championship but did not reach a final at the 2004 NCAA Championships.

Championship Results

2025 – 3rd
2024 – National Champion (Boat National Title: I Eight, Four)
2023 – 4th (Boat National Title: Four)
2022 – National Champion (Boat National Title: I Eight)
2021 – National Champion (Boat National Title: I Eight)
2020 – No regatta
2019 – 2nd
2018 – 3rd
2017 – 4th
2016 – 8th
2015 – 7th

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics

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