SARASOTA, Fla. – No. 17 Rutgers rowing heads to the Sunshine State for the 2nd annual Big Ten Invitational on Friday and Saturday, April 15-16 at Nathan Benderson Park, the site of the 2022 NCAA Championships in May. Flighted racing for Rutgers begins at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, the first of 21 races for the Scarlet Knights in Florida.
 
The No. 17 ranked Scarlet Knights are one of nine teams in the 16-team field with a CRCA national ranking heading into the weekend. All eight Big Ten Conference programs will be in attendance - Iowa, No. 20 Indiana, No. 6 Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 17 Rutgers, and Wisconsin - and will join No. 7 Brown, Dartmouth, No. 10 Duke, Notre Dame, No. 2 Stanford, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 12 Virginia, and Washington State. Additionally, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State, and Notre Dame are receiveing votes in the CRCA Week 5 national poll.

The Big Ten Invitational will be contested through three sessions: a morning and afternoon session on Friday, and a morning session on Saturday. Sixty-six races are on the docket at Nathan Benderson Park, which features the 2,000-meter course that will host the 2022 NCAA Championships on May 27-29.
 
The Scarlet Knights opened the season on March 27 at the Doc Hosea Invitational, claiming five heats in the morning before the finals sessions were canceled due to high winds on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Seven boats were qualified to race in their respective grand finals, including heat winners Varsity 8, 2nd Varsity 8, Varsity 4, 2nd Varsity 4, and Novice 8 (racing with 3rd Varsity 8's).

RU returns 20 of 23 rowers and coxswains and four of five All-Americans from the 2021 season that ended in a seventh place NCAA Championships team finish, including the fifth-place Varsity 8 boat in the grand final of the national regatta. Fifth-year head coach Justin Price and his staff were named the CRCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year following the 2021 season.


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