Bates boat qualifies for Division III Grand Final at NCAAs
 |
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Bates College women’s first varsity eight crew advanced to the Division III Grand Final Friday at the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships, on the first day of competition at Bates’ first appearance at NCAAs.
Bates’ first boat qualified for the Grand Qualifier in the morning elimination heats by finishing fourth out of seven boats in its heat.
In the afternoon Grand Qualifier, in which the top four out of six boats advance to the Grand Final, Bates surged from sixth place in the final 500 meters to overtake the University of Mary Washington and Coast Guard and claim fourth place.
Bates timed in at 7:10.96 over the 2,000-meter course at Melton Lake, the home course for the University of Tennessee, ahead of Mary Washington (7:13.84) and Coast Guard (7:15.31), and just behind William Smith (7:07.44), Puget Sound (7:07.90) and Ithaca (7:09.24). Trinity and Williams, the top two boats in elimination heats, will round out the six-boat field in the Grand Final, which is scheduled for Saturday at 10:15 a.m.
Bates’ second varsity eight finished third in the petite qualifier on Friday to advance to Saturday’s petite final, scheduled to start at 10 a.m. The second eight came in third out of six boats in the petite final in a time of 7:21.97, behind Ithaca (7:17.89) and Williams (7:20.13) and ahead of Trinity (7:23.65), Puget Sound and William Smith. The second boat had finished seventh in the second elimination heat in the morning.
Races at the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships are being webcast live. Follow this link and click on “ROWING” to begin viewing.