WOMEN’S 2024 SPRING SEASON RECAP
UVA INVITE
No. 1 Stanford Women made their presence known on the national stage this weekend, dominating its competitors at the UVA Invite April 13-14 held at Lake Monticello outside of Charlottesville, Va. The Cardinal did not drop a race to its three opponents– No. 5 Yale, No. 8 Syracuse, and No. 11 Virginia– over the two-day regatta. Stanford won all its races by a minimum of two seconds, all the more impressive since all racing was completed in less than 24 hours due to weather forecasts shifting Saturday's racing to the evening.
LONGHORN INVITE
No. 1 Stanford Women opened their morning against No. 2 Texas at the Longhorn Invitational with a win against the Longhorns, as Stanford's fourth varsity eight topped Texas' boat by a 15-second margin. The win over the Longhorns was powered by a strong start as Stanford had an eight-second lead on its competitor at the 1000m mark. Stanford then raced Texas' first varsity eight boat, falling to the Longhorns by less than three seconds. The race was close throughout, as just .6 seconds separated the two boats after 1000m. The third race of the day was the second varsity eight boat, where Texas took the title by a six-second margin. The Cardinal came out on top in the fourth race of the day, as Stanford's varsity four boat bested Texas' by three seconds. Stanford overcame a second deficit after 1000m to top the Longhorns at the end of the 2000m race. In the final race of the day, the Cardinal raced the Longhorns and the Virginia Cavaliers' third varsity eight boats and earned a second-place finish. Stanford led after 1000m, but Texas stormed ahead to secure the victory in the final seconds of the race.
BIG ROW
For the 2024 Big Row we had one of our largest alumni turnouts! We also had the privilege of hosting Senior Day for the athletes. For those of you who were there or watched the livestream, the weather was unusually rough for sunny California, with fairly heavy rain and wind gusts, particularly across the lagoon. The livestream camera drone also wasn’t in service due to the weather. But, for anyone who has rowed before, we know this doesn’t stop races or practices like it might for other sports!
Coming into this race, on the Women’s side, #4 Cal had come off wins against #7 UW and #2 Stanford with a narrow loss against #1 Texas. On the Men’s side, #4 Cal had lost for the first time in 3 years to #2 UW, and #12 Stanford had victories against #22 Oregon State.
Sometimes bouncing back from a loss helps sharpen the focus, and it definitely showed for the Stanford Women, who swept Cal in all 5 races. See the race results here and the GoStanford write up here. Despite the conditions, the margins of victory were very solid. The latest CMAX 1V8+ rankings here show Princeton and Tennessee as other strong contenders aside from Texas, and the rankOAR team rankings now have Tennessee predicted at #2. So, we know the fight to medal at the NCAA podium this year will be as strong as ever. For Big Row, we’ll savor the win but also know the coaches will be working on a lot of things for the next couple of weeks.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Both the #2 Stanford Openweight Women and the #13 Stanford Men raced in Sacramento for the final Pac-12 Rowing Championship, before heading next year to the ACC Conference. While we don’t know the schedule for next year, it is highly likely that while the conference might disperse, midseason races against the teams at this event will likely continue in some form in the future.
The Stanford Women completely swept the event by serious margins in every boat category (5 total!), three-peating the “FINAL AND FOREVER” Pac-12 title. The smallest margin was still about a boat length, and the rest were even wider. This was a great win over #4 Cal and #8 UW, and hopefully a great confidence-builder in their NCAA rematch. With the win, Stanford is automatically qualified for NCAAs. On the East Coast, #3 Princeton won the Ivy League title, and so far is the only other team that might push Stanford’s 1V8+ a little.
Also, at the race, Belle Battistoni ’24 was named the fourth straight Cardinal to earn the conference's highest academic honor, the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Scholar Athlete of the Year, making Stanford the first school in Pac-12 women's rowing history to have four straight honorees. Belle rowed Bow Seat in the 1V8+ Pac-12 victory. Congratulations, Belle!
Belle Battistoni – scholar of the year
2024 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Stanford Women have been one of the most consistent top-tier teams in the last four years, and this NCAA was no exception. Having only lost to #1 Texas during the season, the Longhorns were clearly the team to beat, having rebounded from an NCAA 4th place in 2023. This was going to come down to Finals Day, since Stanford had won each of its heats and semifinals outright, including the 2V8+ against Texas!
This actually set up an interesting showdown based on points, since Texas’ 2nd place in the 2V8+ semi meant that the winner of the other semi might have a chance to push Texas to 3rd or lower on finals day. As it turned out, Texas still earned the silver medal in the 2V8+ final, but still lost to Stanford’s 2V8+, who remained dominant throughout the weekend and earned the gold medal!
Stanford’s 1V4+ had a strong Friday and Saturday, winning both its heat and semifinal, including beating Princeton in the latter. However, on finals day Princeton rebounded, taking the silver with Stanford earning the bronze in the final 500m by less than 8 tenths of a second. Texas earned the 1V4+ gold.
The 1V8+ had a tough assignment in the finals. Tennessee was a bit of dark horse contender and was ranked #3 as a boat. In the finals, Texas earned the gold medal by less than 1.9 seconds, with Stanford earning 2nd, pushed hard by a surging Tennessee. With this result, the Stanford Women made the NCAA top 2 in the last four years, making them the most consistent team over that period. As we mentioned, Texas dropped to 4th last year, and UW, the 2023 runner-up, dropped to 5th this year.
Read the goStanford.com writeup here.
GO STANFORD ROWING!
