Ivy Champions V8, 2V8 Advance To NCAA Semifinals; Finals Moved To Saturday Afternoon

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9 pm update • Due to projected weather on Sunday, all NCAA finals will take place Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm. The NCAA 1V grand final is set to begin at 2:08 pm; you can see all times now, including the earlier semifinal starts, by clicking the results/schedule link below.

LINKS: WATCH LIVE l COMPLETE RESULTS / SATURDAY SCHEDULE

The biggest goal of Day 1 at the NCAA Championships is simply avoiding an afternoon row, and the Ivy League champion first varsity took care of business at the expense of Ivy runner-up Yale in the first heat of the Division I Championships Friday morning in Sarasota, Fla. The Tiger 2V, another Ivy League championship boat, had to take the longer route to the A/B semifinals, but it made a big move around the 1000-meter mark of its repechage to join the 1V in the biggest races Saturday at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla.

The 1V has spent a year trying to get back to the NCAA semifinal after leaving the 2017 Championships unsatisfied, and it earned that opportunity in impressive fashion. Top-seeded Washington was able to move away early, leaving the Ivy duo as the frontrunners for that second qualifying spot for the A/B semifinals. As the Tigers did on Cooper River during the Ivy final, Princeton grabbed an early lead on the Bulldogs and extended it to nearly three seconds by the midway point of the race. The Tigers, who returned five rowers from the 2017 NCAA 1V, added about a second over each of the next splits to comfortably qualify for the semifinal session.

"We felt good about today's race," sophomore Hadley Irwin said. "We laid down a solid base pace and are looking forward to cranking it up a couple of notches for the semifinal. The course has been great so far, with flat conditions and little wind. We did see an alligator yesterday during a practice row, which was pretty neat."

The Tigers will race for a spot in the NCAA championship final Saturday at the updated time of 7:38 am, and they will need to knock off at least one higher-seeded boat to return to the grand final. #8 Princeton will come out of Lane 2, and it will face #9 Yale (Lane 1), #2 Stanford (3), #4 Texas (4), #6 Michigan (5), and #10 Southern California (6).

"It's going to be a super tight semifinal," Irwin added. "Over the past couple of weeks, we have been working on developing mature racing strategy and mentality. I am confident that we are ready to seize the opportunity tomorrow by applying these tactics and really just going for it."

The second varsity entered as the 11^th seed and couldn't quite get into a blazing finish between #3 Virginia and #6 Texas during the heat. After staying with the leaders through the first 500, Princeton fell into third during the second split. Fourth-place Virginia never got close to Princeton over the final 500, but both boats left the sprinting to the front pair and saved energy for the evening repechage.

Princeton found itself in third place for about the first 1000 meters of its repechage as well, but the Tigers kept contact throughout and had a move ready to start the third 500. The Tigers jumped ahead of both Brown and USC at that point and then led the duo to a furious sprint over the final 250. The Ivy duo held the final two qualifying spots for the A/B semifinal, which will take place at 7:46 Saturday morning. The #11 Princeton 2V will race from Lane 6, and will need a Top-3 finish against #16 Syracuse (1), #7 Stanford (2), #5 Michigan (3), #1 Washington (4), and #6 Texas (5).

The 13th-seeded varsity four experienced a similar heat as the 2V, as both Virginia and Texas raced away from the field to comfortably qualify for the A/B semifinal. Princeton settled into a spot behind Washington State and turned its attention to the evening repechage. Princeton came out fast in the rep and grabbed a lead by the 500 mark, but the Tigers weren't able to hold on and ultimately finished third. They will race at 9:48 in the C/D semifinal against Jacksonville, Syracuse, Navy, and Central Florida.

VARSITY EIGHT
Opening Heat
Washington 6:17.52
Princeton 6:23.28
Yale 6:28.88
Syracuse 6:34.48
Gonzaga 6:38.18

SECOND VARSITY EIGHT
Opening Heat
Virginia 6:31.28
Texas 6:31.68
Princeton 6:39.08
Indiana 6:45.15
Rhode Island 7:00.14
Jacksonville 7:25.83

Repechage
Princeton 6:19.90
Brown 6:20.55
Southern California 6:21.28
Washington State 6:27.76
Northeastern 6:36.11
Navy 6:46.98
Jacksonville 7:04.50

VARSITY FOUR
Opening Heat
Texas 7:13.28
Virginia 7:14.40
Washington State 7:28.27
Princeton 7:33.61
Northeastern 7:47.84
Rhode Island 8:04.23

Repechage
Brown 7:04.42
Indiana 7:07.13
Princeton 7:11.51
Gonzaga 7:20.00
Syracuse 7:22.34
Northeastern 7:31.21
Jacksonville 7:37.600

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