INDIANAPOLIS – Central Oklahoma qualified for the NCAA Division II Rowing National Championships for the 12th consecutive season as the six-team field was announced Tuesday evening.
UCO, three-time national champions and first- or second-place finishers in six of the last seven national championships, will be joined by the rest of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Western Washington won the league title a week ago with defending national champ Cal Poly Humboldt taking second and Seattle Pacific tying the Bronchos for third.
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) and Mercyhurst (Pa.) are the other two schools that will join the GNAC contingent.
The championships will be held May 31 – June 1 at Lake Harsha at East Fork State Park in Bethel, Ohio.
Lane assignments were also announced as part of Tuesday's selection show. UCO's Varsity 8+ boat will race in Heat B with Embry-Riddle and Cal Poly Humboldt. SPU, WWU, and MU will race in Heat A. Central Oklahoma's Varsity 4+ boat will race in Heat A against Embry-Riddle and Seattle Pacific while Mercyhurst, Humboldt, and Western Washington race in Heat B.
On Friday, May 31, the four preliminary races will be held consecutively beginning at 9 a.m. (EDT). The two heat winners in each boat will advance to Saturday's Grand Final (places 1-4), while the other four boats will return for Friday evening repechage racing just after 4 p.m.
First and second place in each boat's repechage race will advance to the Grand Final while the other two squads compete in the Petite Final (places 5-6).
Saturday, June 1 will be Championship Saturday with the Fours Petite at 11 a.m. and the Fours Grand Final at 11:12 a.m. The Eights Petite is scheduled for 11:48 a.m. and the Eights Grand Final is set for 12 p.m.
This season's championships will be the 12th consecutive including Central Oklahoma. The Bronchos qualified as a Varsity 8+ boat only in 2012, 2013, and 2014 before qualifying as a team in each of the last eight national championships.
UCO finished fourth in 2015 before back-to-back runner-up performances in 2016 and 2017. Then it was three consecutive national titles for the Bronze & Blue in 2018, 2019, and again in 2021. The Bronchos were fifth in 2022 before another national runner-up finish last year in New Jersey.
Central's Varsity 8+ boat has national championship finishes in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021, and the Varsity 4+ boat has national championship finishes in 2019 and 2021.
