STANFORD, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford’s path to the national title was revealed Tuesday afternoon, as the Cardinal will compete as the top seed in the second varsity eight and varsity four boat classes and the third seed in the varsity eight race at the 2026 NCAA Championships regatta May 29 through May 31 in Gainesville, Ga. at Lake Lanier.
The Cardinal earned the Atlantic Coast Conference's automatic bid to the regatta with its fifth consecutive conference championship title Saturday, sweeping all conference boat titles for the third consecutive campaign (Pac-12, 2024; ACC, 2025 and 2026). The NCAA announced nine other automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large bids Tuesday afternoon, as well as boat rankings and heat assignments for the first day of racing, May 29.
The national championship regatta is a three-day event, racing each team's varsity eight, second varsity eight, and varsity four boats. With its top rankings in the second varsity eight and varsity four classifications, Stanford earned the top boat lane (lane three) and top heat (heat 1) for two of its heat races, while the Cardinal will race in the top boat lane of heat three for the varsity eight heats race.
Action for the Cardinal kicks off at 7:12 a.m. PT May 29 as the varsity eight boat races in heat three alongside No. 6 seed Virginia, No. 11 seed Brown, No. 14 seed Columbia, No. 19 seed Northeastern and No. 22 seed Jacksonville. At 7:36 a.m. PT, Stanford's second varsity eight boat takes on No. 8 seed Tennessee, No. 9 seed Syracuse, No. 16 seed Ohio State, and No. 17 seed UCF in heat one, and the Cardinal's first day of action ends as the varsity four boat competes in heat one against No. 8 seed UCF, No. 9 seed Brown, No. 16 seed Miami and No. 17 seed Columbia at 8:24 a.m. PT. All three days of racing action will be live-streamed on NCAA.com, while live results can be found on RegattaResults.com.