[fullmetal]

Y'all got it pretty much right (nice job ColoradoTree and BigEasyCard).

Rowing is not really a sport where significant speed upsets happen.  Most of the race is won or lost in your base aerobic speed, much like cycling, one-mile run, or cross-country skiing.  But like the mile run, races are short enough that anaerobic strength (sprinting capacity) can affect results.  There is room, however, for small differences in speed to vary from race to race (ballpark that variability at six seconds), and my opinion is that this is comprised of the psychological/mental resilience and technical aspect of the rowing stroke.  The smaller the boat, the greater the variability as well.  Look at Stanford's V4 heat, where they beat Wisconsin by 3.6 seconds.  Fast forward to the B Final, and Wisconsin wins the B Final with a 4.6 second margin over Stanford.  Some teams have physiologies better suited for multiple races over consecutive days.  Sometimes crews need another race to find their rhythm.

I was surprised to see Stanford's 1V have such a great regatta after the duals and conference championship races, but there are various reasons as to how that could have been -- peaking at the right time, maybe a lineup change that produced better rhythm, better focus with the pre-regatta trip out east ahead of the racing (no school, social life, etc. distractions).  Back in the day when the first varsity eights race was the only thing that mattered, Stanford would have been second, but the team points format really puts a premium on depth (and consequently, recruiting--with which Stanford has the typical issues).

Though the 2V and V4 didn't make their respective A Finals, that doesn't take away from their performance.  The season's results indicated that these boats would have a hard time competing with top-end speed, and they pretty much held serve, which Stanford needed.  Making it into the B Final is no longer a cakewalk these days--most advancements out of repechages were by margins of less than two seconds this weekend.  The lower boats did what they had to do, and I hope they train hard over the summer to improve on a decent finish this season (everyone else will be training...!).

UW was a wire-to-wire season favorite, I think, to win the NCAA (team) title.  With the exception of their dual race with kal, the Huskies just kept winning, and even then voters still ranked UW as the #1 team the week after those losses.  That's a testament to the voters' faith in Yaz Farooq's coaching abilities, either to get the team back on track or to peak at the right time. 

It is very interesting that this was Yaz's first year as the UW coach after leaving Stanford.  Last season, the celebrated UW coach Bob Ernst was unceremoniously fired in November after a group of rowers filed Title IX accusations against him for what was essentially body/weight discrimination/shaming.  The athletic director who handled that left UW the following month and was hired back in his home SEC territory at A&M.  UW elevated an assistant into the interim head coach position, and the Huskies finished fifth overall last season, one point behind Stanford.  With Yaz at the helm, the Huskies immediately became favorites and eventually delivered a championship.  There are implications about rowing talent, coaching abilities/methods, and recruiting that can be drawn here, but it's nothing new. 

Of note, I think it bears mentioning that the ACC had a big down year, as Virginia/Syracuse were slower than expected.  Michigan seems to have supplanted Ohio St. as the Big 10 power, but there was a drop-off after Michigan to Ohio St. (though the Buckeye lower boats carried the day for their team points).  Notably, I thought Indiana and Iowa were overrated.  Yale, Brown, and Princeton seemed to hold steady--maybe we're seeing a reversal in the Ivy League performance decline now.  I thought WSU should have been faster, and it's a shame that U$C didn't make the selection cut.  I do think the Pac-12 is probably the fastest conference from top to bottom.

Big congrats to the Stanford women's crew and first-year head coach Derek Byrnes (and his staff) for a great finish to a season spent in the most competitive rowing conference!

(I was in Gainesville, GA for the weekend at another rowing event where I didn't have time to check The Cardboard...I'll also be waking up around 4-5am for the next couple of days as that imposed circadian rhythm wears off!)

[fullmetal]

Y'all got it pretty much right (nice job ColoradoTree and BigEasyCard).

Rowing is not really a sport where significant speed upsets happen.  Most of the race is won or lost in your base aerobic speed, much like cycling, one-mile run, or cross-country skiing.  But like the mile run, races are short enough that anaerobic strength (sprinting capacity) can affect results.  There is room, however, for small differences in speed to vary from race to race (ballpark that variability at six seconds), and my opinion is that this is comprised of the psychological/mental resilience and technical aspect of the rowing stroke.  The smaller the boat, the greater the variability as well.  Look at Stanford's V4 heat, where they beat Wisconsin by 3.6 seconds.  Fast forward to the B Final, and Wisconsin wins the B Final with a 4.6 second margin over Stanford.  Some teams have physiologies better suited for multiple races over consecutive days.  Sometimes crews need another race to find their rhythm.

I was surprised to see Stanford's 1V have such a great regatta after the duals and conference championship races, but there are various reasons as to how that could have been -- peaking at the right time, maybe a lineup change that produced better rhythm, better focus with the pre-regatta trip out east ahead of the racing (no school, social life, etc. distractions).  Back in the day when the first varsity eights race was the only thing that mattered, Stanford would have been second, but the team points format really puts a premium on depth (and consequently, recruiting--with which Stanford has the typical issues).

Though the 2V and V4 didn't make their respective A Finals, that doesn't take away from their performance.  The season's results indicated that these boats would have a hard time competing with top-end speed, and they pretty much held serve, which Stanford needed.  Making it into the B Final is no longer a cakewalk these days--most advancements out of repechages were by margins of less than two seconds this weekend.  The lower boats did what they had to do, and I hope they train hard over the summer to improve on a decent finish this season (everyone else will be training...!).

UW was a wire-to-wire season favorite, I think, to win the NCAA (team) title.  With the exception of their dual race with kal, the Huskies just kept winning, and even then voters still ranked UW as the #1 team the week after those losses.  That's a testament to the voters' faith in Yaz Farooq's coaching abilities, either to get the team back on track or to peak at the right time. 

It is very interesting that this was Yaz's first year as the UW coach after leaving Stanford.  Last season, the celebrated UW coach Bob Ernst was unceremoniously fired in November after a group of rowers filed Title IX accusations against him for what was essentially body/weight discrimination/shaming.  The athletic director who handled that left UW the following month and was hired back in his home SEC territory at A&M.  UW elevated an assistant into the interim head coach position, and the Huskies finished fifth overall last season, one point behind Stanford.  With Yaz at the helm, the Huskies immediately became favorites and eventually delivered a championship.  There are implications about rowing talent, coaching abilities/methods, and recruiting that can be drawn here, but it's nothing new. 

Of note, I think it bears mentioning that the ACC had a big down year, as Virginia/Syracuse were slower than expected.  Michigan seems to have supplanted Ohio St. as the Big 10 power, but there was a drop-off after Michigan to Ohio St. (though the Buckeye lower boats carried the day for their team points).  Notably, I thought Indiana and Iowa were overrated.  Yale, Brown, and Princeton seemed to hold steady--maybe we're seeing a reversal in the Ivy League performance decline now.  I thought WSU should have been faster, and it's a shame that U$C didn't make the selection cut.  I do think the Pac-12 is probably the fastest conference from top to bottom.

Big congrats to the Stanford women's crew and first-year head coach Derek Byrnes (and his staff) for a great finish to a season spent in the most competitive rowing conference!

(I was in Gainesville, GA for the weekend at another rowing event where I didn't have time to check The Cardboard...I'll also be waking up around 4-5am for the next couple of days as that imposed circadian rhythm wears off!)