Monday, May 20, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS – With victories in both the varsity eights and the varsity fours, Central Oklahoma cruised to its second consecutive national championship at the NCAA Division II Women’s Rowing Championships at the Indianapolis Rowing Center at Eagle Creek Park.

The Bronchos’ sweep of the two races was critical in a tight team competition that saw three of the teams who will compete as part of the GNAC in 2019-20 finish in the top-four. Central Oklahoma finished with 30 points, six points of national runner-up Florida Tech and seven points ahead of third place Western Washington.

Seattle Pacific, making its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2014, finished fourth with 15 points.

"I'm so proud of this team," Central Oklahoma head coach Montia Rice said. "They've worked so hard all season, even before the season started, to make sure they were standing here in the end. They never quit working and they gave everything they had today in their last race of the season. It's great to see their hard work pay off.”

The varsity 8+ led over much of the final 1,200 meters of the grand final, capturing the title with a time of 6:33.011 and a four-second margin over Florida Tech. Western Washington was third in 6:43.504 and Seattle Pacific was fourth in 6:43.651.

Central Oklahoma led from start to finish in the varsity 4+ grand final, taking the title with a time 7:27.026. The Vikings finished second with a time of 7:31.086 while Seattle Pacific was fourth in 7:37.855.

The Bronchos were the only one of the future GNAC teams to advance to the grand final in both the varsity 4+ and varsity 8+ from the opening round. The Bronchos’ eights easily won its Friday heat with a time of 6:42.70, 11 seconds ahead of Seattle Pacific. The fours secured their spot in closer heat, winning in 7:29.59 and just five seconds ahead of Western Washington.

The Vikings also advanced their varsity 8+ boat to the grand final, surging to overtake Florida Tech over the final 500 meters to win the second preliminary heat in a time of 6:38.454. Western advanced its fours to the grand final with a wire-to-wire win in Saturday’s repechage, taking a close race from Seattle Pacific in a time of 8:15.263.

The Falcons, meanwhile, continued to make noise in their return to nationals by bringing both boats through the repechage to the grand final. In addition to the second-place finish for the fours, the SPU eights placed a close second to Florida Tech in a time of 7:10.318. The Falcons were just hundredths of UC San Diego (7:10.886) to advance.

The victory by Central Oklahoma continued a run of dominance for Division II West Region teams, all of which will compete in the GNAC next season. In the 18 years that women’s rowing has been a Division II championship spot, West Region teams have won 14 of them. The region had won the last three national titles with Western Washington claiming the 2017 championship by one point over Central Oklahoma.