NCAA Division I rowing championship
SportCollege rowing
Founded1997
No. of teams22
CountryUnited States
Most recent
champion(s)
Stanford (2)
Most titlesBrown (7)
Official websiteNCAA.com

The NCAA Division I Rowing Championship is a rowing championship held by the NCAA for Division I women's heavyweight (or openweight) collegiate crews. The inaugural National Championship was held in 1997 for the top 16 crews in the country, located at Lake Natoma, Sacramento, California. In 2002, the NCAA added championships for Division II and Division III. All races are 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) long. The NCAA does not sponsor men's rowing (both heavyweight and lightweight) and women's lightweight rowing championships.[1]

Automatic qualifier spots

Eleven rowing conferences each get one Automatic Qualifier spot by winning their conference points championship, except for the Ivy League whose Automatic Qualifier goes to the Varsity Eight winner. There are another 11 At-Large spots.

Format

The NCAA Division I Women's Rowing Championships have three events (I Eights, II Eights, Fours), and twenty-two teams compete. Eleven teams are selected through automatic qualification based on conference results. An additional eleven at-large teams are selected by the NCAA Rowing Committee. In previous years an additional, four at-large I Eights are selected. As of 2009 all bids must be full teams.

Teams are awarded points by their final placing in each event. The NCAA Champion is determined by the team which accumulates the most points. Since 2013, the winner of the I-Eights event gets 66 points, and the team that places second gets 63 points, third gets 60, etc. For the II-Eights there are 44 points for the winner, and the points obtained go down in steps of two for each next spot in the final ranking. For the event with Fours, the winner gets 22 points, and the subsequent finishers get 21, 20, 19, etc. When teams are tied for points after the three events, the NCAA champion is determined by the team with the higher placing in the I Eight event.

At-large participants in the championships are selected by the NCAA Division I Women’s Rowing Committee. The following criteria are used in selecting teams and individual boats:

Champions

Results

NCAA Division I Rowing Championships
Year Site
(Host Team)
Team Results Individual Results
Champion Score Runner-Up Score Fours II Eights I Eights
1997
Details
Rancho Cordova, CA Washington 201 Princeton 184 Brown Princeton Washington
1998
Details
Gainesville, GA Washington (2) 91 Princeton 85 USC Virginia Washington
1999
Details
Rancho Cordova, CA Brown 56 Virginia 56 Washington Virginia Brown
2000
Details
Camden, NJ Brown (2) 59 Washington 55 Washington Brown Brown
2001
Details
Gainesville, GA Washington (3) 58 Michigan 53 Washington Michigan Washington
2002
Details
Indianapolis, IN Brown (3) 67 Washington 63 Brown Washington Washington
2003
Details
Harvard 59 Brown 57 Brown Brown Harvard
2004
Details
Gold River, CA Brown (4) 70 Yale 58 Virginia Brown Brown
2005
Details
California 67 Virginia 63 Virginia Virginia California
2006
Details
West Windsor, NJ California (2) 66 Brown 66 Brown Brown Princeton
2007
Details
Oak Ridge, TN Brown (5) 58 Virginia 54 Virginia Minnesota Yale
2008
Details
Gold River, CA Brown (6) 67 Washington 59 Washington Brown Yale
2009
Details
Cherry Hill, NJ Stanford 88 California 85 Clemson Yale Stanford
2010
Details
Gold River, CA Virginia 87 California 82 Virginia Brown Yale
2011
Details
Brown (7) 85 Stanford 85 California Stanford Princeton
2012
Details
West Windsor, NJ Virginia (2) 87 Michigan 82 Ohio State Michigan Virginia
2013
Details
Indianapolis, IN Ohio State 126 California 124 Ohio State Ohio State California
2014
Details
Ohio State (2) 126 California 118 California Ohio State Ohio State
2015
Details
Gold River, CA Ohio State (3) 126 California 114 Virginia Brown Ohio State
2016
Details
California (3) 129 Ohio State 126 Ohio State California Ohio State
2017
Details
West Windsor, NJ Washington (4) 132 California 123 Washington Washington Washington
2018
Details
Sarasota, FL California (4) 130 Washington 128 California Washington California
2019
Details
Indianapolis, IN Washington (5) 132 Texas 125 Washington Washington Washington
2020 Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021
Details
Sarasota, FL Texas 126 Stanford 126 Washington Washington Texas
2022
Details
Texas (2) 124 Stanford 124 Princeton Yale Texas
2023
Details
Pennsauken, NJ
(Temple)
Stanford (2) 129 Washington 120 Texas Stanford Stanford
2024
Details
Bethel, OH
(Marietta)
2025
Details
West Windsor, NJ
(Ivy & MAAC)
2026
Details
Gainesville, GA
(North Georgia)

Team titles

NCAA Division I rowing championship is located in the United States
Harvard
Harvard
Stanford
Stanford
Texas
Texas
Virginia
Virginia
Ohio State
Ohio State
California
California
Washington
Washington
Brown
Brown
Schools that have won the NCAA Division I Women's Rowing Championship
7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Team # Years
Brown 7 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011
Washington 5 1997, 1998, 2001, 2017, 2019
California 4 2005, 2006, 2016, 2018
Ohio State 3 2013, 2014, 2015
Virginia 2 2010, 2012
Texas 2021, 2022
Stanford 2009, 2023
Harvard 1 2003

Appearances by team

Key

School Conference
(as of 2024)
# CH 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23
Brown Ivy League 26 7 3 RU CH CH 3 CH RU CH 3 RU CH CH 5 5 CH 14 7 3 3 6 8 10 9 8 7 7
Washington Pac-12 26 5 CH CH 3 RU CH RU 3 5 9 7 10 RU 7 10 8 7 6 7 4 5 CH RU CH 3 4 RU
California Pac-12 24 4 6 4 6 3 5 4 CH CH 7 3 RU RU 3 3 RU RU RU CH RU CH 6 9 6 8
Ohio State Big Ten 23 3 9 4 5 8 8 4 5 3 7 8 14 10 5 CH CH CH RU 5 6 5 6 8 12
Virginia ACC 25 2 4 3 RU 3 7 4 6 7 RU RU 5 4 CH 6 CH 5 5 5 3 11 5 10 5 9 10
Stanford Pac-12 17 2 10 9 11 CH 4 RU 9 10 4 6 4 6 4 4 RU RU CH
Texas Big 12 8 2 7 8 4 3 RU CH CH 4
Harvard Ivy League 17 1 7 7 10 8 11 CH 10 6 11 9 14 14 12 11 13 14 14
Princeton Ivy League 26 - RU 6 4 6 5 7 7 6 5 3 8 12 10 3 4 4 3 6 12 7 10 9 7 12 3 3
Michigan Big Ten 22 - 5 5 5 RU 8 4 3 8 9 11 13 RU 12 8 10 10 3 7 3 4 10 11
Yale Ivy League 20 - 5 6 10 RU 7 10 4 4 3 6 11 10 8 9 11 7 8 8 5 5
Wisconsin Big Ten 17 - 10 11 12 8 10 13 7 9 11 16 16 13 9 9 15 15 14
Washington State Pac-12 13 - 12 9 4 8 13 12 14 14 8 12 14 14 15
USC Pac-12 13 - 11 5 11 8 5 6 4 10 15 14 12 15 16
Michigan State Big Ten 12 - 8 8 9 11 12 10 6 6 6 9 7 16
Gonzaga West Coast 9 - 19 17 16 19 18 20 20 18 19
Northeastern Coastal 9 - 18 18 18 17 19 19 19 20 18
Navy Patriot 8 - 20 21 19 20 17 17 18 21
Syracuse ACC 7 - 12 13 13 16 10 17 13
Notre Dame ACC 7 - 9 12 15 13 9 16 16
Indiana Big Ten 7 - 11 11 15 12 13 12 17
Jacksonville MAAC 7 - 22 22 22 22 22 22 22
Boston University Patriot 6 - 9 7 10 18 20 19
Rhode Island Atlantic 10 6 - 21 21 21 21 21 21
Rutgers Big Ten 5 - 6 11 7 13 15
Tennessee Big 12 5 - 12 9 11 16 17
UCF Big 12 5 - 19 20 18 20 18
Duke ACC 5 - 17 16 16 16 14
Dartmouth Ivy League 4 - 8 8 16 16
UMass Atlantic 10 4 - 4 21 20 21
Iowa Big Ten 4 - 9 15 11 13
UCLA Pac-12 4 - 12 8 9 12
Oregon State Pac-12 3 - 7 15 14
Clemson ACC 3 - 12 15 15
Marist MAAC 3 - 22 22 22
SMU American 3 - 11 12 9
Cornell Ivy League 2 - 13 15
Oklahoma Big 12 2 - 17 19
Penn Ivy League 2 - 11 6
Minnesota Big Ten 1 - 6
San Diego West Coast 1 - 15
Louisville ACC 1 - 17
Alabama Big 12 1 - 13
George Washington Atlantic 10 1 - 20
School Conference # CH 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23

Prior Championships

The first women’s collegiate championship was held in 1980 at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. National champions were declared from the varsity eight race. California won the first collegiate championship. Below is a list of Women’s National Collegiate varsity eight champions:

(Source: Washington Crew Press Guide)

Prior to 1980, college boats entered the National Women’s Rowing Association National Championships (what is now the USRowing National Championships). Below is a list of NWRA open eights champions from 1971–79 (no eights prior to 1971). The top college finisher is in parentheses:

Winning crews

I Eight

See also

References