Rowing Selected to First NCAA Championship

May 21, 2013

NORMAN, Okla. -- For the first time in the five-year history of the program, the University of Oklahoma rowing team was selected to the 2013 NCAA Rowing Championship, the NCAA announced Tuesday.

OU, one of 11 teams that earned an automatic bid, will join a 22-team field at Indianapolis' Eagle Creek Park May 31-June 2 to race for a national title. The Sooners will be the first Big 12 school to compete at the national championship, first held in 1997.

"We are excited for the opportunity to compete at NCAA's for the first time in program history and to go up against the nation's top teams," OU head coach Leeanne Crain said. "We've been working toward this goal since we started the program and I have to give credit to all of our student-athletes for their commitment and dedication. The hard work has paid off and we're honored to be representing the Big 12 and C-USA at our national championship."

Oklahoma earned an automatic bid to the championship with its first Conference USA title on May 18. The Sooners also won their first Big 12 championship on May 4, though with five Big 12 schools sponsoring rowing, the conference is one team shy of an automatic qualifier.

OU is the first Big 12 team and just the second program in the 11-team Conference USA to be selected to the NCAA Championship. Tennessee has earned a bid four times, most recently in 2010. Oklahoma is the only conference team to make the 2013 field.

The Sooners earned the 17th seed in the varsity eight event and will race in the first of four heats against No. 1 USC, No. 8 Yale, No. 9 Harvard and No. 16 Washington State.

In the second varsity eight, OU is ranked 14th. Oklahoma will compete against No. 3 USC, No. 6 Princeton, No. 11 Notre Dame, No. 19 Gonzaga and No. 22 Marist in its heat.

The varsity four finds the Sooners with a 17 seed and will race against No. 1 California, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 9 Washington State and No. 16 Cornell.

Heats will be held May 31, while with semifinals on June 1 and finals on June 2. Points will be awarded on a team's final placing in each event.

For complete news and behind-the-scenes updates on the Sooners, follow them on Twitter at @SoonerRowing and Instagram at Instagram.com/OU_Rowing. Additional updates through the NCAA Championship can be found on the Championship Central page.

2013 NCAA Rowing Championship Field

Seed	Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight	Varsity Four
1.	USC	Ohio State	California
2.	Princeton	California	Ohio State
3.	Ohio State	Southern California	Brown
4.	Virginia	Brown	UCLA
5.	Washington	Washington	Washington
6.	California	Princeton	Yale
7.	UCLA	Harvard	Princeton
8.	Yale	Virginia	Wisconsin
9.	Harvard	UCLA	Washington State
10.	Stanford	Wisconsin	Southern California
11.	Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Virginia
12.	Michigan	Stanford	Notre Dame
13.	Wisconsin	Cornell	Michigan
14.	Cornell	Oklahoma	Harvard
15.	Brown	Michigan	Stanford
16.	Washington State	Yale	Cornell
17.	Oklahoma	Washington State	Oklahoma
18.	Boston University	Boston University	Rhode Island
19.	Navy	Gonzaga	Boston University
20.	Gonzaga	Navy	Navy
21.	Rhode Island	Rhode Island	Gonzaga
22.	Marist	Marist	Marist

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Rowing Selected to First NCAA Championship

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors