Alabama Rowing Qualifies for First NCAA Championship in Program History

The Crimson Tide rowing team made history on Tuesday night when it qualified for the 2021 NCAA Championships

On Tuesday evening, Alabama rowing was named one of the 22 programs to earn a bid to the 2021 NCAA Championships, which is the first one in school history.

Alabama was one of 12 teams to earn at-large bids after 10 teams were automatic selections for winning their respective conferences. Each squad will have three boats competing in the event, which will take place May 28-30 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla.

The Crimson Tide’s 1V8+ crew earned its highest seed at No. 11, with the 1V4+ coming in at No. 13 and the 2V8+ at No. 17.  Alabama’s 1V8+ crew will face Navy, Stanford, Rutgers, Syracuse and Marist in its first heat on May 28. The 2V8+ will face SMU, Washington, Brown and Princeton while the 1V4+ will race Navy, Washington State, Virginia, Washington and Northeastern.

The bid to the NCAA Championships caps off a year of many firsts for the Crimson Tide, which also earned its first 10-ranking earlier in the season. Last weekend, Alabama finished second at the Big 12 Championships.

“Getting to the national championship is a huge accomplishment," Alabama coach Glenn Putyrae, the Big 12 Coach of the Year, said in a press release. "When we talk to our team and recruits, we tell them that when they come here, they have a chance to win championships. Anybody racing in this regatta can win the national championship and now we get to take our shot. We’ve raced a grueling schedule. We knew, having never been selected to the championship before, we would have to have a body of work that would be unassailable in the eyes of the selectors. 

"We were unafraid of putting ourselves out there with the opportunity for this moment and we’re excited about it.”