Princeton University Athletics
Top-Ranked Tiger Open Crew Leads Field Of 16 To NCAA Championships
May 17, 2011 | Women's Rowing - Open
The reigning EAWRC/Ivy League champion Princeton open crew will join a talented field of 16 teams next weekend for the 2011 NCAA Championships, it was announced Tuesday during the NCAA selection show.
Princeton, one of three programs to compete in every NCAA Championship regatta since the inaugural event in 1997, will bring one of its best and deepest teams to the Sacramento State Aquatic Center in Sacramento, Calif., next weekend for the three-day championship regatta. The competition will begin May 27 and last through the varsity eight grand final on May 29.
Princeton shares the national top ranking with California, which won the Pac-10 title last weekend; Virginia, one of 13 teams Princeton defeated during its perfect 2011 regular season, will enter next weekend as the defending NCAA champion. Five of the 16 teams in the NCAA field come from the Ivy League; joining Princeton in the national championships will be Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale.
The Tigers have never won an NCAA team title, but they did have one of the most dominant varsity boats in the history of the competition. The 2006 Princeton varsity eight capped an undefeated season with an open water victory in the NCAA final at Mercer Lake.
Unlike the EAWRC Championships, where the league champion is crowned in the varsity eight final, the NCAA Championships are determined by the combined finish of a program's top three boats: the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four. Each of those three boats won their respective Eastern titles last weekend on Cooper River. Both the Princeton 1V and 2V did so following perfect regular seasons, while the varsity four earned an impressive 9-4 record.
Check back next week with GoPrincetonTigers.com for a full preview of the championship competition.
V8
Heat 1: Princeton, Virginia, Michigan State, Michigan, Washington
2V8
Heat 1: Princeton, Brown, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan
V4
Heat 1: California, Ohio State, Princeton, Clemson, Michigan State
Participating Teams
Brown
California
Clemson
Dartmouth
Harvard
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Princeton
Southern California
Stanford
Virginia
Washington
Washington State
Wisconsin
Yale