California's Varsity Eight team remained undefeated on the season with Saturday's semifinal win.
GOLD RIVER, Calif. -- In the Division I Varsity Eight semifinals, California led the way by posting the fastest time in either heat, coming across the line in 6:27.366, ahead of Virginia and Texas, who also advanced to the Grand Final. In the other semifinal, Ohio State (6:29.322) cruised to the win ahead of Stanford and Washington as all three boats moved on to the Grand Final.
In the Varsity Eight C/D semifinals, Wisconsin and Gonzaga came away with heat victories against Yale and Southern California, respectively.
In the Second Varsity Eight races, Ohio State (6:32.249) made the biggest statement, coming from lane four to win the first A/B semifinal, taking a two-second win against Washington and six-seconds against California. All three advance to the Grand Final. In the second A/B semifinal, Brown came away with a comfortable win but the race was for second and third between Washington State, Yale and Stanford. Washington State used a late surge to find its way into the Grand Final as Yale finished second, 12-hundredths ahead of the Cougars, who edged Stanford for third by .14.
Princeton and Harvard came away with race victories in the C/D semifinals, both wins by more than three seconds.
In the Varsity Four A/B semifinals, the first race was a battle to the finish for second and third place as Yale (7:19.265) won by almost five seconds, but the race came down to second and third as Ohio State, Princeton and California were fighting for two spots in the Grand Final. Ohio State grabbed second by .37 seconds ahead of Princeton, who clipped Cal by .18 seconds for the third spot. In the second semifinal, Virginia and Brown cruised into the Grand Final while Washington narrowly edged Washington State for the final spot.
Racing in Division II was slight as only repechage races took place for the Varsity Eight and Varsity Four divisions. In the V8, Humboldt State cruised to a seven-second victory against Central Oklahoma while the tables were turned in the V4 as Central Oklahoma won by nearly seven seconds against Humboldt State.
