In the 1V race, Princeton jumped out in front for the first half of the race, while Washington and Stanford sat in second and third behind them, respectively. After the 1k mark, Princeton apparently dialed it down and settled for third, comfortably ahead of Yale, while Stanford and Washington continued to push with effort to the finish line. Stanford finished about 1.6 sec ahead of Washington and 2.8 sec ahead of Princeton. It's my uninformed opinion that Princeton decided to get strategic with energy conservation after securing an advancing position to the grand final.
In the other semifinal, Texas won comfortably, followed by Brown in second. In a minor upset, kal stayed ahead of Ohio State wire-to-wire and relegated the Buckeyes to the petite final. For those keeping track, kal had the third-fastest 1V at the Pac-12 championships, and Ohio State was the Big 10 1V winner. Ha.
In the 2V race, we should first note that that the Texas 2V was in the other semi, where Washington jumped out quickly, followed by Texas. Washington had a substantial but uncomfortable lead over Texas through the halfway mark, as Texas was slowly etching away the margin. The two crews were a half second apart at 1500m, and Texas claimed the victory by 1.32 sec at the finish line. Did Washington row a controlled race, or did they fade while Texas lived up to their pre-regatta seeding of #1? I'd be happy if both teams burned their legs today--Washington beat Stanford in this boat class at the Pac-12s, so any help would be good.
There was a long (+78 min) weather delay between semifinal 1 and semifinal 2 due to lightning in the area of the regatta. This means that anyone racing the second semi has one hour less to recover from their race today in preparation for tomorrow's grand final. Does that matter? At this level, I think it might, but I hope not since Stanford raced in semifinal 2.
In semifinal 2 of the 2V event, Stanford and Yale jumped out on the field immediately and ended up nearly pacing each other through 1500m, at which point Stanford pulled ahead to win by 2.5 seconds. Hopefully this was just an example of properly executed Prisoner's Dilemma game theory. Virginia jumped out ahead of SMU early to claim the third place advancing spot. SMU faded after the halfway mark and finished fifth behind Ohio State, who did not press Virginia for third.
In semifinal 2 of the V4 event, Stanford and Princeton jumped out to the front and stayed within 1-2 sec of each other until the last 500m, after which Princeton seemed to shut it down (margin went from 1.75 sec to 3.9 sec), allowing Stanford to win the semi. Behind them, Ohio State trailed Princeton and was never really pushed by Yale.
So -- Stanford wins all three of their semifinals, but possibly because opponents sandbagged their second half efforts after locking up advancing spots. We see that the Pac-12 is stronger and deeper than the Big 10 and the ACC. Stanford, Texas, Princeton, and maybe even Washington will contend for the national championship, having sent all three boats to the grand finals.
DIV I: 4+ Final 1 09:34 AM ET
1 Brown
2 Princeton
3 Washington
4 Stanford
5 Texas
6 Ohio State
DIV I: SECOND 8+ Final 1 10:00 AM ET
1 Princeton
2 Yale
3 Texas
4 Stanford
5 Washington
6 Virginia
DIV I: 8+ Final 1 10:24 AM ET
1 Princeton
2 Brown
3 Stanford
4 Texas
5 Washington
6 California
Livestream for the Sunday grand finals:
D1: https://www.ncaa.com/event/4225
In the other semifinal, Texas won comfortably, followed by Brown in second. In a minor upset, kal stayed ahead of Ohio State wire-to-wire and relegated the Buckeyes to the petite final. For those keeping track, kal had the third-fastest 1V at the Pac-12 championships, and Ohio State was the Big 10 1V winner. Ha.
In the 2V race, we should first note that that the Texas 2V was in the other semi, where Washington jumped out quickly, followed by Texas. Washington had a substantial but uncomfortable lead over Texas through the halfway mark, as Texas was slowly etching away the margin. The two crews were a half second apart at 1500m, and Texas claimed the victory by 1.32 sec at the finish line. Did Washington row a controlled race, or did they fade while Texas lived up to their pre-regatta seeding of #1? I'd be happy if both teams burned their legs today--Washington beat Stanford in this boat class at the Pac-12s, so any help would be good.
There was a long (+78 min) weather delay between semifinal 1 and semifinal 2 due to lightning in the area of the regatta. This means that anyone racing the second semi has one hour less to recover from their race today in preparation for tomorrow's grand final. Does that matter? At this level, I think it might, but I hope not since Stanford raced in semifinal 2.
In semifinal 2 of the 2V event, Stanford and Yale jumped out on the field immediately and ended up nearly pacing each other through 1500m, at which point Stanford pulled ahead to win by 2.5 seconds. Hopefully this was just an example of properly executed Prisoner's Dilemma game theory. Virginia jumped out ahead of SMU early to claim the third place advancing spot. SMU faded after the halfway mark and finished fifth behind Ohio State, who did not press Virginia for third.
In semifinal 2 of the V4 event, Stanford and Princeton jumped out to the front and stayed within 1-2 sec of each other until the last 500m, after which Princeton seemed to shut it down (margin went from 1.75 sec to 3.9 sec), allowing Stanford to win the semi. Behind them, Ohio State trailed Princeton and was never really pushed by Yale.
So -- Stanford wins all three of their semifinals, but possibly because opponents sandbagged their second half efforts after locking up advancing spots. We see that the Pac-12 is stronger and deeper than the Big 10 and the ACC. Stanford, Texas, Princeton, and maybe even Washington will contend for the national championship, having sent all three boats to the grand finals.
DIV I: 4+ Final 1 09:34 AM ET
1 Brown
2 Princeton
3 Washington
4 Stanford
5 Texas
6 Ohio State
DIV I: SECOND 8+ Final 1 10:00 AM ET
1 Princeton
2 Yale
3 Texas
4 Stanford
5 Washington
6 Virginia
DIV I: 8+ Final 1 10:24 AM ET
1 Princeton
2 Brown
3 Stanford
4 Texas
5 Washington
6 California
Livestream for the Sunday grand finals:
D1: https://www.ncaa.com/event/4225