No. 7 Rowing Set to Compete in NCAA Championships

Friday, May 28

Sarasota, FL

9 AM ET

Rutgers University

NCAA Championships - Day 1

No. 7 Rowing Set to Compete in NCAA Championships

May 27 | Women's Rowing

2021 Heat Sheet & Lane Assignments NCAA Championships Schedule Site Information Watch Live Live Results

Scarlet Knights make their second consecutive appearance at the national championship event after finishing 11th in 2019

SARASOTA, Fla. – No. 7 Rutgers rowing is set for the 2021 NCAA Championships beginning on Friday, May 28 through Sunday, May 30 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.

The Scarlet Knights are competing in their second consecutive NCAA Championships after breaking an 18-year drought, and placed 11th at the last event in 2019 by scoring 70 team points. Rutgers' Varsity 8 and Varsity 4 placed 10th overall at the 2019 event, while the Second Varsity 8 came in 14th.

Competition on Friday begins for the Scarlet Knights at 9:24 a.m. in the third heat of the Varsity 8. The Second Varsity 8 will be in the second heat at 10 a.m. At 10:36 a.m., Rutgers will compete in the first heat of the Varsity 4.

This year's field features Alabama, Brown, California, Duke, Gonzaga, Marist, Michigan, Navy, Northeastern, Ohio State, Princeton, Rhode Island, Rutgers, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Washington State, and Wisconsin.

FRIDAY HEAT SCHEDULE
Schedule
Friday, May 28 – Heats
9:24 a.m. ET – First Eight, Heat 3
Lane 1: Navy
Lane 2: No. 13 Alabama
Lane 3: No. 3 Stanford
Lane 4: No. 7 Rutgers
Lane 5: No. 9 Syracuse
Lane 6: Marist

10:00 a.m. ET – Second Eight, Heat 2
Lane 1: Navy
Lane 2: No. 8 California
Lane 3: No. 1 Texas
Lane 4: No. 7 Rutgers
Lane 5: No. 16 Washington State

10:36 a.m. ET – Varsity Four, Heat 1
Lane 1: No. 15 Wisconsin
Lane 2: No. 7 Rutgers
Lane 3: No. 3 Stanford
Lane 4: No. 10 Duke
Lane 5: No. 12 Southern Methodist

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 8 will receive 66 points with each subsequent finisher collecting three fewer points – 63 for second, 60 for third, etc. The Second Varsity 8 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 Varsity 8.

FORMAT
The top two times of each heat will automatically advance to the A/B Semifinals on Saturday with the remaining boats moving on to the repechage on Friday afternoon. The two fastest boats in each of the two repechage races will fill the four remaining spots in Saturday's A/B Semifinals with the bottom 10 boats moving on to the C/D Semifinals.

The results of Saturday's A/B Semifinals will determine the field competing in the Grand and Petite Finals. The top three of each A/B Semifinal will advance to the Grand Final (places 1-6) and the other six boats will move to the Petite Final (places 7-12) on Sunday.

The 10 boats that comprise the C/D Semifinals on Saturday will vie for spots in the C and D Finals on Sunday. The top six boats will advance to compete in the C Final (places 13-18), while the remaining four boats will race in the D Final (places 19-22).

HOW THEY GOT HERE
The Scarlet Knights earned one of 12 at-large bids to the NCAA Championships after its best performance at the Big Ten Championships in Indianapolis. Rutgers placed third in the stacked conference with 143 points, five medal-winning boats, and four All-Conference selections - all program-record numbers.

The Varsity 8 earned a silver medal at the event, the first Big Ten medal for Rutgers in the top event, and finished less than a second behind gold. The crew won two Big Ten Boat of the Week honors in 2021, and finished first in all of its races outside the slim setback to Michigan at the Big Ten Championships and a miniscule 0.6-second margin behind No. 4 Virginia at the Big Ten Invitational.

Varsity 8 boat members Emma Hopkins and Luisa Neerschulte were named First Team All-Big Ten, while Olivia Maxton and Femke Paulis have earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors following the championships. Another boat member, Hannah Heideveld, was named the Big Ten Rowing Freshman of the Year.

The 2^nd Varsity 8 and Varsity 4 each earned bronze at the Big Ten Championships, signaling the first Big Ten medals for both crews at the conference event.

The Scarlet Knights have experience against some of the NCAA Championships field from this past season. Rutgers won 12 of the 21 races at the Big Ten Invitational in April, including a sweep of the NCAA-qualifying events against then-No. 7 Alabama, and earned wins over Michigan, Ohio State, Princeton, Washington State, and Wisconsin throughout the 2021 season.

Rutgers has been ranked as high as No. 4 this season in the College Rowing Coaches Association Poll, the highest national ranking in program history. This comes after the program earned its first-ever ranking in the national poll in 2019.

Pocock USRowing/CRCA Division I Rankings – May 19
1 Texas (9) - 486
2 Washington (16) - 480
3 Stanford - 439
4 Virginia - 430
5 Michigan - 410
6 Ohio State - 355
7 RUTGERS - 348
8 California - 302
9 Syracuse - 251
10 Duke - 246
11 Princeton - 236
12 SMU - 216
13 Alabama - 205
14 Tennessee - 169
15 Wisconsin - 121
16 Washington State - 104
17 Oregon State - 93
18 Indiana - 91
19 Brown - 87
20 Minnesota - 56

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding rowing, follow the program on Twitter (@RutgersWRowing) and Instagram (@RutgersWRowing).