Clemson Rowing Completes First Day at NCAA Championships

May 28, 2010

SACRAMENTO, CA – The Clemson rowing team completed the first day of racing at the NCAA Championships on Friday. The Tigers’ Varsity 8+, Second Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+ each competed.

In the first race of the day, Clemson’s Varsity 8+ finished fourth in its heat with a time of 6:33.34 behind Virginia, Princeton and UCLA to just miss an automatic bid ot the semifinals. The first-third place boats moved on to the semifinals Saturday morning, while the fourth-sixth competed in the repechage Friday afternoon to earn a spot in the semifinals. Clemson’s Varsity 8+ took sixth in the repechage with a time of 6:43.81 and will advance to the third final on Sunday at 11:15 a.m.

The Second Varsity 8+ boat took to the water next. Clemson’s crew finished fifth in their heat with a time of 6:59.26 behind Virginia, Princeton, Yale and Tennessee. As a result of the fifth place finish, they moved on to the repechage in the afternoon. They finished sixth with a time of 6:59.60 and will now compete in the third final Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m.

The Varsity 4+ concluded the morning races for the Tigers as they took fifth in their heat with a time of 7:33.07 behind Virginia, California, Michigan and Michigan State. They competed in the repechage Friday afternoon and finished second with a time of 7:38.86 to move on to the semifinals Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. The Tigers won the National Championship in this event last season.