May 21, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The University of Virginia women's rowing team is one of 12 teams selected to compete in the sixth NCAA Women's Rowing Championships scheduled for May 31-June 2 at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, Ind.

The other team selections include Brown, California, Harvard, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, Syracuse, Washington, and Yale.

As a team selection, Virginia will send three crews to the NCAA Championships. The 12 schools competing for the team title will have one crew in each of the contested races - the first varsity eight, the second varsity eight and the varsity four.

Four additional schools received at-large invitations to participate in the first varsity eight competition. Those schools include Cornell, Notre Dame, Southern Cal, and Washington State. The four schools receiving at-large invitations in the varsity eight can win that competition, but without an entry in all three races are ineligible for the team title.

"We're really excited to receive an invitation to participate in the NCAA Championships for the sixth consecutive year," said UVa head coach Kevin Sauer. "We take seriously the opportunity to represent the University of Virginia at the NCAA Championships."

Virginia finished seventh as a team at last year's NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Ga. UVa finished fourth in the second varsity eight, sixth in the varsity four and 15th in the first varsity eight last year. Washington won the team competition at last year's championships with Michigan finishing second and Brown third.

Virginia has finished in the top seven in the team competition at each of the five NCAA Women's Rowing Championships. The Cavaliers finished fourth in 1997, third in 1998, second in 1999, third in 2000 and seventh in 2001.

The women's rowing team is in its seventh season as an intercollegiate sport at UVa.