Women's Rowing 5/27/2022 5:40:00 PM Chris Brannick

UCO 4+ Makes NCAA Grand Final

SARASOTA, Fla. – Central Oklahoma's Varsity 4+ boat picked up a repechage win Friday evening to advance to Saturday's Grand Final at the NCAA Rowing Championships at Nathan Benderson Park.

The Bronchos will race Mercyhurst, Embry-Riddle and Seattle Pacific for the 2022 national championship Saturday at 11:12 a.m. (Eastern).

UCO's Varsity 8+ boat, winners of each national title since 2017, took a surprising fourth-place finish in its rep Friday, putting the Bronchos in the Petite Final for the first time since 2014. Central Oklahoma will race against Seattle Pacific at 11:24 a.m. (Eastern).

"Our fours raced a great race and I'm really proud of the way they pulled together to get to the Grand Final," UCO head rowing coach Brian Ebke said. "We certainly are disappointed we didn't make it back in the eights, that's not why we came here, but we still have a chance to win the last race of the season and that's our mindset going into Saturday."

Central's fours, led by coxswain Yesenia Gil-Salazar, took an early lead Friday evening and never looked back. The Bronchos had a two-second lead after 500 meters and eventually pulled away for an eight-second victory, crossing the finish line in 7:44.07.

Central Oklahoma's V4+ boat won the national title in 2019 and 2021 and will look to win a third consecutive title Saturday morning.

UCO's eights got off to a slow start, crossing the 500-meter mark third, but soon fell behind after the halfway point and never recovered. The Bronchos crossed the finish line in 6:53.55 for a fourth-place finish.

Central Oklahoma will race Seattle Pacific for fifth-place in the national championships. UCO has raced head-to-head against SPU five times this season, having won three of those.

Friday's Results
Prelims
Varsity 8+
Heat 1
1. Mercyhurst, 6:37.14
2. Central Oklahoma, 6:40.39
3. Seattle Pacific, 6:44.25
Heat 2
1. Thomas Jefferson, 6:38.67
2. Western Washington, 6:42.89
3. Embry-Riddle, 7:13.44
Varsity 4+
Heat 1
1. Embry-Riddle, 7:37.27
2. Seattle Pacific, 7:52.78
3. Thomas Jefferson, 8:11.29
Heat 2
1. Mercyhurst, 7:32.22
2. Central Oklahoma, 7:34.87
3. Western Washington, 8:06.40
Repechage
Varsity 8+
1. Western Washington, 6:48.02
2. Embry-Riddle, 6:50.61
3. Seattle Pacific, 6:53.26
4. Central Oklahoma, 6:53.65
Varsity 4+
1. Central Oklahoma, 7:44.07
2. Seattle Pacific, 7:52.26
3. Western Washington, 7:54.63
4. Thomas Jefferson, 8:18.09

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Players Mentioned

Yesenia Gil-Salazar: Sophomore; Varsity

Players Mentioned

Yesenia Gil-Salazar
: Sophomore; Varsity