June 1, 2002

The No. 9 Cal women's varsity eight advanced to the finals of the 2002 NCAA Championships on Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, IN, May 31. Cal finished second in its semifinal behind No. 1 Washington, but will race for the National Championships on Sunday.

In the top race of the day, the Division I First Varsity Eight semifinals proved to be well worth the price of admission. The University of Washington took another step toward defending its First Varsity Eight championship as it was victorious with a time of 6:47.72, which was more than four seconds behind the second-fastest boat of California, which finished with a time of 6:52.04. Ohio State rounded out the finalists with a third-place finish in the first semifinal with a time of 6:52.48.

In the second semifinal, Brown proved it was worthy of regaining its crown as the First Varsity Eight champion. Brown finished with a time of 6:53.65 in the second semifinal, while Princeton finished second with a time of 6:54.00. Joining Princeton and Brown is Stanford which placed third in the second semifinal with a time of 6:57.03.

Neither the Cal JV nor the varsity four advanced to the grand final and will race for positions 7-12 in the petite finals on Sunday.

Coach Dave O'Neill Quotes: On today's race: "One of our goals all year was to make the finals, and once you make the finals at NCAA's then you work from there," said Cal coach Dave O'Neill. What we said all year long was that the most stressful race is the semifinals, and that turned out to be the case today, but our boat they have a lot of heart and I'm really really proud of them."

On the finals: "We have raced against Stanford and have traded races with Stanford throughout the year. This was the first time that we have beaten Ohio State this year today. That is going to give us some confidence. Washington we have raced against all year, but this is the closest we have come to them so far. They are fast, for us to beat Washington would be an upset, but upsets happen. Right now we are just happy to be in the finals, and now were looking at trying to get into the top three."

For real-time results and schedule information, please visit http://www.iuhoosiers.com/ncaa/rowing.

2002 NCAA Championships
Day 2
June 1, 2002
2000 Meters on the Eagle Creek Reservoir, Indianapolis, IN



Varsity Eight
1	Washington	06:47:72
2	California	06:52:04
3	Ohio State	06:52:48
4	Yale	06:54:17
5	Virginia 	07:02:27
6	Syracuse	07:06:91


JV Eight
1	Yale	07:03:23
2	Michigan	07:03:29
3	Princeton	07:06:70
4	California	07:09:75
5	Syracuse	07:16:78


Varsity Four
1	Virginia 	07:37:30
2	Michigan	07:38:00
3	California	07:43:11
4	Ohio State	07:46:60
5	Syracuse	07:51:73