KINGSTON, R.I. – One of three teams nationally to repeat as an automatic bid qualifier, Rhode Island was officially invited to the 2025 NCAA Women's Rowing Championship Tuesday evening.
URI - which won its 11th Atlantic 10 title Saturday - will compete at the NCAA Championship for the eighth time in program history. It is the second straight automatic bid for the Rams, who joined Boston University (Patriot League) and Northeastern (CAA) as the only teams to earn automatic bids each of the last two seasons. It was the sixth A-10 title in seven years for Rhode Island.
Rhody was the fifth team unveiled during Tuesday's selection show, which streamed live on NCAA.com. Team members and coaches gathered on campus to watch the selection show.
The nine automatic qualifiers were the first teams revealed. In addition to URI, Boston University (Patriot League); Fairfield (MAAC); Northeastern (CAA); Oregon State (WCC); UCF (Big 12); Washington (Big 10) and Yale (Ivy League) received automatic bids.
The rest of the 22-team field received at-large bids, which are listed below.
Teams will head to Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. for the NCAA Championship from May 30 through June 1. The national championship involves three days of racing. Each flight will have four heats on Friday, May 30. All three Rhode Island boats are seeded No. 21 will participate in Heat 4 of their respective flights.
In the Varsity 8, the Rams will compete against Northeastern, Virginia, Washington, Princeton and UCF. In the Second Varsity 8, URI will race against Boston University, Syracuse, Texas, Yale and Dartmouth. The Varsity 4 flight for Rhody will be against Northeastern, Harvard, Texas, Yale and Dartmouth.
The top two boats in each flight secure spots in the A/B semifinals on Saturday, June 1, while the rest of the teams move on to the C/D semifinals that day. The finals in each flight will be held on Sunday, June 1. Each flight has four sets of finals – D Final (places 19-22), C Final (places 13-18), Petite Final (places 7-12) and Grand Final (places 1-6).
All three days of the NCAA Championship will stream live on NCAA.com.
The Rams placed 20th at the national championship in 2024, the best finish in program history. URI finished 21st in each of its first six appearances at the event.
2025 NCAA Championship Field
Automatic Qualifiers
Boston University – Patriot League
Fairfield – MAAC
Northeastern – CAA
Oregon State – West Coast Conference
Rhode Island – Atlantic 10
UCF – Big 12
Washington – Big 10
Yale – Ivy League
At-Large Bids
Brown
California
Dartmouth
Harvard
Indiana
Michigan
Penn
Princeton
Rutgers
Syracuse
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
