The Virginia women's rowing team opens its season Saturday at the Windermere Classic in Redwood City, Calif..
According to the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association preseason poll, Virginia is ranked No. 3 nationally. Princeton was the country's top-rated team, followed by California at Berkley. With such a high ranking, Virginia will be seen as a team to beat this season. Nevertheless, Virginia coach Kevin Sauer refuses to place much emphasis on preseason rankings.
The ranking "is based a little upon how you did last year and some on how you did this fall," Sauer said. "But fall racing is so different from the spring that there's not a whole lot to it. A high ranking is mainly just a sign of respect that the program has been good in the past and there's an expectation that it will probably be pretty competitive again."
Last season, the Virginia squad took second place in the NCAA team competition and two boats, the varsity four and the second varsity eight, each won championships and claimed undefeated seasons.
This spring, Virginia's toughest ACC competition will most likely be Duke and Clemson. On the national level, Sauer seems to agree with the preseason poll by predicting that Princeton, Berkley and Ohio State will be Virginia's biggest challengers.
"There are several schools that I think are going to be pretty good this year," Sauer said. "And there are a lot of schools out there that have the potential for speed so we don't really concern ourselves with that.Rather, we just do the best job we can in practice everyday and raise the bar, so-to-speak, so that we bring our best race."
At this weekend's Windermere classic, teams race one another individually and the match-ups are decided by random draw. Virginia will face Stanford first, Oregon State second and Berkeley third.
"[Berkeley] will be our biggest competition," sophomore rower Mindy Fiesler said. "Overall, they won NCAAs last year and we were second, so we are really looking to beat them this weekend."
Virginia's second place finish at the NCAA regatta last year makes a national championship a very realistic goal. Fiesler, a member of the varsity four that won an NCAA title in 2005, wants a team championship as well.
"We want to win," Fiesler said. "We want to win the whole thing. We want to get as many points as possible and have our team get the overall trophy. After getting second, this year is our year."
A team championship is Sauer's goal as well. While he is certainly proud of the individual success of certain boats, his focus is not on one in particular, but rather on the competitiveness of the team as a whole.
"If everyone does get to the finals, we will give ourselves a chance to win the whole thing," Sauer said. "My hope is that all our boats are competitive this season, including the second four, the third four and the novices. Those guys are all important to the success of the team because everyone is pushing each other. And, coming together will give us a better chance at the team-title down the road."
Read More
Cavaliers slug their way to 9-8 victory over VCU to open final homestand of 2025
By Ryan Weiner | 6 hours agoIt was a little close for comfort, but Virginia got the job done.
72 years in the making, men’s golf’s first ACC title comes in dramatic fashion
By Casey Reims | 17 hours ago"We were dead," Sargent said. "We were beat."
With 10 games left in the regular season, Virginia baseball must be near-perfect
By Emory Huffman , Xander Tilock and Ryan Weiner | YesterdayVirginia has reached the witching hour.
