Sport College rowing No. of teams 6 Most recent
champion(s) Wellesley College (1) | Founded 2002 Country United States Official website NCAA.com | |
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The NCAA Division III Rowing Championship is a rowing championship held by the NCAA for Division III women's heavyweight (or openweight) collegiate crews.
Contents
Championship
The NCAA Division III Women's Rowing Championships comprise 126 total competitors (148 including spares) and one event, varsity and second varsity eights together. Each race is 2,000 meters long. Six teams are selected, each of which is required to field two eights. In addition, as of 2005 two "at-large" boats are selected to enable representation by teams that have a single fast crew but not the depth for two competitive boats. The following criteria are used in selecting teams and individual boats:
If an analysis of the primary criteria by the committee does not result in a decision, the remainder of the institutions schedule, including out-of-region play and competition against Division I and II institutions, and nonmember institutions, and late season results will also be considered.
There are three rounds of racing over two days. First, there are two heats of seven boats. The first- and second-seeded crews are assured of being in separate heats, but the other boats are assigned randomly. The winner of each heat advances automatically to the grand final the next day, places 2-4 advance to the grand final qualifier, and places 5-7 go to the petite final qualifier. Both qualifiers are run later that day. From the grand final qualifier, the top four boats advance to the grand final (joining the two winners of the heats), and places 5 and 6 advance to the petite final. From the petite final qualifier, the top four boats advance to the petite final, and the other two are excluded from further racing. The grand-final decides places 1-6 for the championship (including the gold, silver, and bronze crews), and the petite final decides places 7-12; places 13 and 14 are the sixth- and seventh-place boats respectively from the petite final qualifier.
The individual boat champion is the winner of the grand final. The team champion is the one that records the lowest combined score for both boats. Each boat earns 1-12 points, reflecting how it finished relative to the field (ignoring the at-large boats). Ties in total points are broken by consideration of which team had the faster first varsity eight.