Rowing Report - NCAAs Day 1 - Washington Huskies

It's pouring rain here in Cherry Hill, NJ, complete with thunder and lightning. The weather is supposed to clear up overnight tonight and it's supposed to be around 80 and sunny tomorrow, which certainly beats the 103-degree weather Washington competed in at the Pac-10 Championships in Rancho Cordova, Calif. two weeks ago!

The first day of racing went according to plan. All three Husky boats advanced to the semifinals, set for tomorrow morning. The ladies seemed relaxed and happy after the first round of racing... Lots of laughter and joking. After the completion of the heat races, all 20-odd athletes walked back to the hotel, showered and relaxed for a few hours. Then they hit the water again at 4:30pm ET for a quick lap around the race course, just to "get the blood flowing," according to second varsity coxswain Isabelle Woodward.

Meanwhile, the repechages were being held for the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four boats that failed to qualify for semis this morning. The top three from each repechage moved on to the semis. Of the 16-team field, only two failed to qualify for the semifinals in any of the three events: Dartmouth and Oregon State. Those two will race in the third finals on Sunday to place out 15th and 16th.

After the repechage races, lane assignments were drawn for the semifinal races tomorrow. Those can be found on a GoHuskies.com. Washington is in the first varsity eight semifinal at 9am ET, the second 2V8 semifinal at 9:45 ET and the first varsity four semifinal at 10:00 ET.

And if your rowing jones isn't sated yet, check out the great story and photogallery in today's Seattle Times or by going here. Steve Kelley did a really good job of capturing the sport.