GAINESVILLE, Ga. – No. 2 Stanford women’s rowing advanced all three of its boats to their respective Grand Finals Friday at the 2026 NCAA Championships at Lake Lanier, recording three top finishes in heat racing and posting two first-place finishes and a second-place effort in the AB semifinals.
Heat and semifinal races were condensed into a single day because of impending inclement weather in the Gainesville area on Saturday.
The Cardinal was one of only two teams to earn top finishes in all of its heat races. Stanford’s varsity four posted the fastest time of all heat races (6:44.712) and the largest margin of victory in the Division I heats between first and second place finishers (13.802 seconds), while both of its eights boats won their heats and posted the second-best time of all four qualifying races.
Stanford’s varsity four continued its dominance in semifinal racing, crossing the finish line more than six seconds ahead of the entirety of the semifinals field. While the Cardinal finished behind Texas in its varsity eight semifinal, Stanford outpaced the winner of the second semifinal, Tennessee, by more than three seconds.
Friday morning kicked off with an impressive performance from the Cardinal’s varsity eight (5:59.078), besting second-place Virginia (6:04.226) by 5.148 seconds.
Stanford’s second varsity eight followed suit, crossing the finish line in 6:03.510, ahead of Tennessee (6:08.806), Syracuse (6:15.414), Ohio State (6:19.700) and UCF (6:20.208).
The Cardinal’s dominant varsity four effort (6:44.712, beating out Brown at 6:58.514) rounded out the morning’s heat races.
The evening began with Stanford’s second-place finish in the varsity eight AB semifinal I, finishing in 6:01.005, behind Texas (5:59.571). The Cardinal rebounded with strong performances in the second varsity eight AB semifinal I and the varsity four AB semifinal II, besting the second-place boats by margins of 7.578 seconds (Princeton, 2V8) and 7.264 (Tennessee, 1V4).
No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Texas and No. 6 Virginia were the only four teams to advance all of their boats to the Grand Finals and compete for NCAA titles Sunday.
First-place finishes in the varsity four, second varsity eight and varsity eight are worth 22, 44 and 66 points, respectively. The overall team title goes to the program with the highest cumulative point total. Racing on Sunday is set to start with the varsity four Grand Final at 6:36 a.m. PT, followed by the second varsity eight Grand Final at 7 a.m. PT and the varsity eight Grand Final at 7:24 a.m. PT. All races will be streamed live on NCAA.com.
Lineups
Varsity Eight
Coxswain: Ella Casano
Nora Goodwillie (8)
Célia Dupré (7)
Lia Nathan (6)
Emma Bagrie (5)
Matilda Drewett (4)
Madeleine Greenstock (3)
Annika Jeffery (2)
Quincy Stone (1)
Second Varsity Eight
Coxswain: Carolyn Kennedy
Julia Doss (8)
Martha Shepherd (7)
Claire Van Praagh (6)
Elli Rowley (5)
Leni Koetitz (4)
Alice Baker (3)
Heather Schmidt (2)
Charlotte Jett (1)
Varsity Four
Coxswain: Honor Warburg
Sofia Simone (4)
Carly Brown (3)
Sumner Kerr (2)
Emily Tierney (1)
Results
Varsity Eight- Heat Three
1. Stanford- 5:59.078
2. Virginia- 6:04.226
3. Brown- 6:07.104
4. Columbia- 6:09.154
5. Northeastern- 6:30.636
6. Jacksonville- 6:36.510
Second Varsity Eight- Heat One
1. Stanford- 6:03.510
2. Tennessee- 6:08.806
3. Syracuse- 6:15.414
4. Ohio State- 6:19.700
5. UCF- 6:20.208
Varsity Four- Heat One
1. Stanford-6:44.712
2. Brown- 6:58.514
3. Miami- 7:03.172
4. UCF- 7:03.988
5. Columbia- 7:19.438
Varsity Eight- AB Semifinal 1
1. Texas- 5:59.571
2. Stanford- 6:01.005
3. Yale- 6:05.137
4. Syracuse- 6:06.405
5. Brown- 6:12.803
6. Ohio State- 6:17.657
Second Varsity Eight- AB Semifinal 1
1. Stanford- 6:07.274
2. Princeton- 6:14.852
3. Yale- 6:15.942
4. Syracuse- 6:19.158
5. Brown- 6:19.354
6. Michigan- 6:25.020
Varsity Four- AB Semifinal 2
1. Stanford- 6:46.090
2. Tennessee- 6:53.354
3. Virginia- 6:57.084
4. California- 7:02.236
5. Syracuse- 7:10.778
6. Miami- 7:24.968