May 27, 2014

Link to schedule: Schedule

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego women's rowing team will compete in the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history, beginning Friday morning at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Ind.

Fresh off a dominant performance at the WCC Championships, the Toreros are hungry to prove they belong on the national stage. "At NCAA's our goal is to break in to the top-16. Having an [automatic qualifying] bid makes some of the bigger schools skeptical of us being at their speed," V8 coxswain Erica Mayer said. "Showing that we can take down some of the top ranked teams, which I feel like we are capable of doing, is going to be our goal. If we can get that done, it will show that we deserve to be there."

Both of the USD Eight's were seeded No. 17 (out of 22), with the V4 earning a No. 16 seed. The Toreros have already raced against half of the field of 22 during the regular season and have won races against elite programs such as Oklahoma, Cal, Wisconsin, UCLA, USC, and Washington State.

"We know we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain," senior captain Taylor Kendzierski said. "Our goals are to beat everyone that we know we are faster than, and we did beat a lot of strong schools this season. We don't have a limiting goal. We just want to be able to put everything on the line and I think that's our biggest goal going into NCAA's."

At the WCC Championships, the Toreros swept all three races and also won all four of the WCC's major awards; senior Michelle Campbell was named Rower of the Year, Erica Mayer was named Coxswain of the Year, Nneka Anyanwu earned Newcomer of the Year, and Kim Cupini was named Coach of the Year for the fifth time in the past six years.

The races kick off Friday morning at approximately 6:10 a.m. with four heats for each event. All boats will be split into four heats again on Saturday morning, beginning at approximately 5:30 a.m., based on Friday's results. On Sunday the competition will conclude with the top six seeds competing in the Grand Final, seeds 7-12 competing in the Petite Final, and the remaining teams will compete in either the C (13-18) or D Final (19-22).

Teams are awarded points by their final placing in each event. The NCAA Champion is determined by the team which accumulates the most points. When teams are tied for points after the three events, the NCAA champion is determined by the team with the higher placing in the I Eight event.

Automatic Qualifiers:
Boston U. (Patriot League)
Jacksonville (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
Louisville (American Athletic Conference)
Massachusetts (Atlantic 10 Conference)
Northeastern (Colonial Athletic Conference)
Ohio State (Big Ten Conference)
Oklahoma (Conference USA)
Princeton (The Ivy League)
San Diego (West Coast Conference)
Stanford (Pac-12 Conference)
Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference)

At-Large Selections:
Brown
California
UCLA
Harvard
Indiana
Michigan
Notre Dame
USC
Washington
Washington State
Wisconsin

The seeding for each boat classification is as follows:
I Eights
1. Ohio State
2. Stanford
3. Princeton
4. Brown
5. Washington
6. California
7. Virginia
8. Michigan
9. USC
10. Notre Dame
11. UCLA
12. Indiana
13. Harvard
14. Washington State
15. Wisconsin
16. Louisville
17. San Diego
18. Oklahoma
19. Northeastern
20. Massachusetts
21. Boston U.
22. Jacksonville

II Eights
1. Brown
2. Stanford
3. Ohio State
4. Virginia
5. UCLA
6. California
7. Princeton
8. Michigan
9. Washington
10. Notre Dame
11. Indiana
12. Washington State
13. USC
14. Harvard
15. Louisville
16. Wisconsin
17. San Diego
18. Oklahoma
19. Northeastern
20. Boston U.
21. Massachusetts
22. Jacksonville

Fours
1. Brown
2. Virginia
3. Ohio State
4. Stanford
5. Washington
6. Wisconsin
7. California
8. Princeton
9. Michigan
10. Harvard
11. Notre Dame
12. Washington State
13. Indiana
14. Louisville
15. UCLA
16. San Diego
17. USC
18. Northeastern
19. Oklahoma
20. Boston U.
21. Massachusetts
22. Jacksonville