To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

1. Princeton University

Princeton remains the top overall rowing college in 2023 after winning both the men’s and women’s lightweight national championships as well as finishing third in both the NCAA women’s championship and IRA men’s heavyweight championships.

The third-place finishes are even more impressive than the national championships because they came against deeper, faster fields, including universities whose athletic scholarships, program support, and coaches’ salaries exceed the Olympic programs of most nations and verge on being professional.

Rowing out of Shea Rowing Center on the man-made Lake Carnegie, purpose-built for rowing, the Tigers hardly go wanting. Even though league rules forbid athletic scholarships, the financial aid at Ivy League schools, and particularly at Princeton, is tremendous and often grant-only (no student loans) and better than athletic scholarships because it can’t be taken away.

At the end of the season, Princeton, across all four categories, was just plain fast. The Tigers celebrated in style with a massive contingent making the trip to race at Henley Royal Regatta.

See more rankings here.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 1 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

2. University of Washington

Even without lightweight programs for either men or women, Washington ranks second this year on the strength of second-place finishes at both the NCAA and IRA national championships. Both impressive performances came as surprises to outside observers, but not to women’s coach Yaz Farooq or men’s coach Michael Callahan. The Huskies staffs knew they had developing speed through the spring after taking their lumps in the early season—the men on a Canadian trip and the women at the San Diego Crew Classic. But when it mattered, they were faster than all but one and enter 2024 as favorites for both national championships.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 2 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

3. Yale University

Yale’s consistent excellence across the three categories of openweight women, heavyweight men, and lightweight men continued this year, with the heavies finishing fourth and the lightweight men sixth at the IRA. Combining the fifth-place NCAA finish by the women (tied for fourth on points) and grand-final speed across a nearly complete program (Yale lacks a women’s lightweight varsity) makes the Elis the third-best overall rowing college in America.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 3 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

4. Stanford University

The Stanford openweight women recovered from distinct losses to Texas at the San Diego Crew Classic to turn its season around and beat the two-time defending NCAA-champion Longhorns finally at the end of the season. That national championship, supported by the Cardinal lightweight womens’ silver medal and heavyweight men’s eighth-place finish at the IRA, leads to Stanford’s overall fourth-best ranking.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 4 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

5. University of California, Berkeley

Under the direction of Scott Frandsen, the 2023 Rowing News Coach of the Year, the Cal men had an IRA that was historically successful, winning the varsity, JV, and third-varsity heavyweight eights, plus the varsity four. The Golden Bears won the James Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy for points at the IRA, and the Cal women finished eighth in NCAA Division I points—three points out of sixth but also only 11 points ahead of 11th—for a combined overall ranking of fifth.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 5 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

6. Brown University

Like Cal, Brown lacks lightweight varsities but earns its high ranking through equally consistent men’s and women’s openweight varsities, both seventh at the IRA and NCAA national championships, respectively.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 6 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

7. University of Pennsylvania

The Quakers illustrate well how overall rankings work. Their women, coached by Ivy League Coach of the Year Wes Ng (who also received NCAA Coach of the Year votes), finished sixth at the NCAA, just one point ahead of Brown. The Penn heavyweight men finished 12th at the IRA, dropping their overall ranking relative to other top-10 schools, but the lightweight men’s IRA bronze medal pulled them back up, two spots ahead of Harvard/Radcliffe, the only other program besides Princeton’s to support four varsity crews.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 7 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

8. Syracuse University

The Syracuse women may have felt some frustration with a laudable 13th-place team finish at the NCAAs following one of the Orange’s best spring campaigns ever. Combined with the heavyweight men’s strong fifth-place race at the IRA, Syracuse earns eighth place overall as a rowing institution and will surprise no one by finishing even better next year.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 8 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

10. Harvard/Radcliffe University

A top-10 overall ranking for the Crimson results from a complete program consistently racing well, if not always winning, against the best colleges in the country in all four Division I varsity categories. Radcliffe, as the women’s crews continue to be known, failed to secure an invite to the NCAA championship regatta after a fifth-place finish at the Ivy League Championship, which still awards its championship based on the varsity-eight final. (Rutgers was invited, despite losing to Radcliffe during the regular season.) The lightweight men’s IRA silver medal and the lightweight women’s fifth-place countered the heavyweight men’s ninth-place finish at the IRA to keep Harvard/Radcliffe in the overall top 10.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 9 appeared first on Rowing News.

To determine the top 25 collegiate crews in the United States, each team was assigned relative weights for competitive speed, and a proprietary formula produced an overall score for each program, with the top 25 published here.

Right from the start, we know there will be howls of complaint about a university like Texas with a great NCAA women’s program not making the top 10 of the 2023 Rowing News Top 25 Overall College Programs. We can’t emphasize “overall” enough.

While the Longhorns finished a commendable fourth at the NCAAs—a result that would be the highlight of most rowing careers and included victory for the Texas varsity four—they didn’t score a single point in our overall ranking in the varsity heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, or lightweight women’s categories. Texas doesn’t have varsity programs in those three categories, although they certainly have the resources for it. That’s a choice.

Texas Crew, its club program, had some good results at the ACRA regatta, but those points weren’t enough to bring the overall score up to the level of universities that support more complete and nationally competitive rowing programs for men and women. The same is true of SMU this year and will likely be true in the years to come of many other universities that support only openweight women’s varsities.

The NCAA championships, which are for openweight women’s varsities only, are decided on team scores, while the other national championships are based on the individual varsity eights alone. The NCAA’s championship structure adds another complication to how we determine the ranking with its “automatic qualifiers” (the winners of 11 conference championships qualify automatically for the 22-school Division I field, and the remaining 11 spots are selected at large by a committee).

The result is that a program like Harvard/Radcliffe, fifth at this year’s Ivy League Championships, gets left out of the championship—and our previous ranking system—while slower, automatically qualified schools are in.

In this year’s system, we’ve added “fitting” to the process, awarding ranking points to NCAA Division I programs not invited to the championship, based on spring results against crews that were.

These rankings rely exclusively on demonstrated speed in 2,000-meter racing at season-culminating championships, with the exception of the aforementioned NCAA adjustments. They reflect the relative speed of the overall rowing programs at each college and not the quality of the experience for the student-athletes.

10. Northeastern University

The Huskies’ heavyweight men came through what is often the best racing in all of collegiate rowing, the IRA semifinals, to earn a grand-final appearance that led Northeastern into the top 10 overall. The women made it to the NCAA Championship as the winner of the Colonial Athletic Conference and finished 18th of 22.

The post Rowing News – Top 25 of 2023: Number 10 appeared first on Rowing News.