Like it has done all year – whether it be remotely or in Berkeley – the Cal women's rowing team was forced to grind it out Friday on the first day of the 2021 NCAA Championships at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.

The difficulties of training during the COVID-19 pandemic have created many obstacles for the Golden Bears since last August, so the added burden of qualifying through the repechages seemed just about right on Friday.

Two of Cal's three crews failed to qualify for the A/B semifinals during morning heats, but each ended up grabbing a berth in the afternoon repechages. The Bears are one of 10 teams (out of 22) that advanced all three of their boats to Saturday's A/B semifinals.

"Based on a half-year of training, I feel really good about where we are," said Cal head coach Al Acosta said, whose Bears didn't begin training together until January this season.

Cal's varsity eight made a late push during the final 500 meters of its morning heat but finished just over a second behind Brown for second place. The top two finishers in each heat advance directly to the A/B semifinals, and the rest fall to the repechages for a second chance to qualify. The top two boats in each repechage nab the remaining berths in the A/B semis, and the Bears easily finished second, just under four seconds better than Wisconsin.

Cal's varsity four placed fourth in its morning heat but pulled away from Princeton during the final 1,000 meters of its repechage to easily place second by three seconds.

"When we have to race the (repechages), it's generally because the heats didn't go that well," Acosta said. "But it's not bad to actually have a second row that day to straighten things out. I'm super proud of both of those boats."

Cal's second varsity eight made things a little bit easier on itself with a strong performance in its heat, finishing second and almost six seconds ahead of third-place Rutgers.

The top three finishers from each A/B semifinal Saturday will advance to Sunday's Grand Final. The remaining boats row in the Petite Final.


SATURDAY'S A/B SEMIFINAL SCHEDULE
V8 - 5:48 a.m. PT
2V8 - 6:24 a.m. PT
V4 - 7:12 a.m. PT