University of Tennessee Athletics
ROWING VAULTS TO NO. 14 IN NATIONAL RANKINGS
May 21, 2003 | Rowing
May 21, 2003
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
Just one day after receiving their first-ever NCAA Championships invitation in the eights competition, the Tennessee Lady Vols have now attained their highest national ranking in program history. The Orange and White received a rating of 14th in the final USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Varsity Eight Poll of the season on Wednesday to improve five spots.
The ranking comes after a weekend in which the Lady Vols batted extremely tough competition at the Lexus Central/South Region Sprints to place fifth in the 1st Varsity 8+ Grand Final. In the race, which featured six top 20 teams, UT covered the 2,000-meter course in 6:24.4 to beat then-No. 11 Michigan State. No. 12 Virginia claimed victory, followed by No. 10 Ohio State, No. 7 Michigan and No. 17 Texas. The field was so strong that 15th-ranked Iowa did not even qualify for the grand final.
Stanford jumped into the poll's top spot after claiming the Pac-10 Championship, edging Harvard by three points to claim its first-ever No. 1 ranking. Last week's No. 1, Washington, dropped to the third spot, while Princeton and Virginia rounded out the top five.
Tennessee first cracked into the top 20 on April 16, when the Lady Vols gained the 20th position to claim their first ranking since the program began in 1995-96. In the April 23 version of the poll, UT secured 20th place for the second week in a row, after sweeping the varsity races at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in Oak Ridge. The following week, however, Tennessee obtained its highest ranking at the time of 18th in the April 30 poll. The rating came after UT's varsity 8+ downed South Region rival Clemson by 13 seconds, but was just edged out by then-No. 12 Washington State by 1.7 seconds. After a weekend without competition, The Lady Vols slid one spot to 19th when the poll was released on May 7, and were again rated 19th on May 14.
The Lady Vols are in the midst of preparing for the NCAA Championships, which take place from May 30-June 1 at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Ind.
USRowing/CRCA NCAA Division I Varsity Eight Coaches Poll Women's Varsity Eights - May 21, 2003 (final poll of season)
| Ranking | Team (1st-Place Votes) | Points |
| 1 | Stanford (11) | 485 |
| 2 | Harvard (14) | 482 |
| 3 | Washington | 440 |
| 4 | Princeton | 423 |
| 5 | Virginia | 366 |
| 6 | Brown | 356 |
| 7 | Washington State | 338 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 322 |
| 9 | California | 311 |
| 10 | Michigan | 283 |
| 11 | Yale | 275 |
| 12 | Southern California | 235 |
| 13 | Texas | 208 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 154 |
| 15 | Boston University | 150 |
| 16 | Michigan State | 128 |
| 17 | Oregon State | 102 |
| 18 | Syracuse | 74 |
| 19 | Iowa | 61 |
| 20 | Cornell | 37 |
Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 9, Pennsylvania 4, Massachusetts 3, Minnesota 2, Duke 1, and UCLA 1.
