STANFORD WINS!!!
Third time's the charm...being runners-up for the past two seasons by virtue of 1V placement tiebreaker surely had to sting, but the women finally won the team championship (as well as both individual eights events championships), and they did it outright. What a nerve-wracking morning lol.
After the V4 race, it felt like this year would follow the script set by Texas over the last two years. Stanford's V4 got walked through by Brown in the second half unfortunately, giving up a bronze medal. But a 4th place still gets you team points, and Stanford competed all the way through.
The 2V8 race was interesting, as the first crack in the Texas mystique appeared. Texas didn't appear to have their legs, and it was Washington and kal out of nowhere following Stanford's charge down the course. Fast-stroking Yale didn't have the power to match, and their aura of invicibility coming into this weekend was finally put to rest when the Pac-12 swept the 2V8 podium. The 6th (last) place Texas finish was quite puzzling. If Stanford had a bad 1V8 race and Texas won, the team trophy would again return to Austin. Surely the Texas 1V8 would dominate again, so went the thinking. After all, Texas had smoked all comers early this season in San Diego, and they were back-to-back defending national champions. Of note in this race, some of the crews (specifically Texas) encountered geese in their lanes unfortunately, which caused some bobbling in the boat. Texas hit a lot of geese who didn't have the sense to get out of the way. Apparently geese were caught in a rigger and had been dragged through the water for a bit, not to mention the impact on the oars and rhythm of the crew. There was talk of an official protest that could have resulted in a rerow for the entire race, but that ended up not happening.
The 1V8 race kicked off with Texas and Princeton immediately down on the field. Perhaps their semifinal effort had taking more out of them than they realized. Princeton was also behind; Princeton, Penn, and Texas had advanced out of the same semifinal with only 1.05 seconds from first through third place. Back to the A final: though the start, Stanford was right up there with the rest of the pack. Slowly Stanford built out their lead, advancing over Washington, Princeton, and Penn (who somewhat quickly fell off the pace after the starting strokes).
Stanford marched out through the finish line, pressed but unfazed by Washington and Princeton throwing the kitchen sink at them. There were no last minute heroics from the Huskies or Tigers, no effort that would close the gap to Stanford. The Stanford women just put their foot down and took the race from the start through the finish. It was a race perhaps 364 days in the making, and that dedication showed. It was an impressive race and perhaps not one that I expected given the race results from the last two years. To be sure, this weekend was all about Stanford leading wire-to-wire...it was just the final where I feared they might have gassed out. They didn't. They held the line, and it was Texas instead who had done too much in the semifinals.
Women's rowing is a brutal sport, with more parity than men's rowing and full of pitfalls. There are any number of ways in which a season can be derailed. There are any number of ways in which a multi-day regatta can end up with a bad last race. Stanford executed their plan and walked away, champions.
They changed the progressions starting this year. I think the idea was to make the heats more competitive as well as perhaps a realization that repechage winners were severely disadvantaged by a fourth race on their legs.
Third time's the charm...being runners-up for the past two seasons by virtue of 1V placement tiebreaker surely had to sting, but the women finally won the team championship (as well as both individual eights events championships), and they did it outright. What a nerve-wracking morning lol.
After the V4 race, it felt like this year would follow the script set by Texas over the last two years. Stanford's V4 got walked through by Brown in the second half unfortunately, giving up a bronze medal. But a 4th place still gets you team points, and Stanford competed all the way through.
The 2V8 race was interesting, as the first crack in the Texas mystique appeared. Texas didn't appear to have their legs, and it was Washington and kal out of nowhere following Stanford's charge down the course. Fast-stroking Yale didn't have the power to match, and their aura of invicibility coming into this weekend was finally put to rest when the Pac-12 swept the 2V8 podium. The 6th (last) place Texas finish was quite puzzling. If Stanford had a bad 1V8 race and Texas won, the team trophy would again return to Austin. Surely the Texas 1V8 would dominate again, so went the thinking. After all, Texas had smoked all comers early this season in San Diego, and they were back-to-back defending national champions. Of note in this race, some of the crews (specifically Texas) encountered geese in their lanes unfortunately, which caused some bobbling in the boat. Texas hit a lot of geese who didn't have the sense to get out of the way. Apparently geese were caught in a rigger and had been dragged through the water for a bit, not to mention the impact on the oars and rhythm of the crew. There was talk of an official protest that could have resulted in a rerow for the entire race, but that ended up not happening.
The 1V8 race kicked off with Texas and Princeton immediately down on the field. Perhaps their semifinal effort had taking more out of them than they realized. Princeton was also behind; Princeton, Penn, and Texas had advanced out of the same semifinal with only 1.05 seconds from first through third place. Back to the A final: though the start, Stanford was right up there with the rest of the pack. Slowly Stanford built out their lead, advancing over Washington, Princeton, and Penn (who somewhat quickly fell off the pace after the starting strokes).
Stanford marched out through the finish line, pressed but unfazed by Washington and Princeton throwing the kitchen sink at them. There were no last minute heroics from the Huskies or Tigers, no effort that would close the gap to Stanford. The Stanford women just put their foot down and took the race from the start through the finish. It was a race perhaps 364 days in the making, and that dedication showed. It was an impressive race and perhaps not one that I expected given the race results from the last two years. To be sure, this weekend was all about Stanford leading wire-to-wire...it was just the final where I feared they might have gassed out. They didn't. They held the line, and it was Texas instead who had done too much in the semifinals.
Women's rowing is a brutal sport, with more parity than men's rowing and full of pitfalls. There are any number of ways in which a season can be derailed. There are any number of ways in which a multi-day regatta can end up with a bad last race. Stanford executed their plan and walked away, champions.
(05-27-2023, 10:26 PM)bnarver Wrote: I remember there being repechages for Div. I boats. At least, I thought there were. Assuming I'm correct, when did this change?
They changed the progressions starting this year. I think the idea was to make the heats more competitive as well as perhaps a realization that repechage winners were severely disadvantaged by a fourth race on their legs.