BERKELEY – The No. 9 California women's rowing team is set for its 23rd straight NCAA Championships and will be the ninth overall seed in the regatta when it competes this weekend at the Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, New Jersey. All races will be streamed on NCAA.com.

"We've had a productive week and a half training post-Pac-12s," Cal head coach Al Acosta said. "We've taken the time to finalize racing lineups and work on what we learned from Pac-12s. Our last day of hard work was yesterday (Monday), so now we just work on resting, recovery and keeping things sharp and relaxed. I think we all feel like we've done everything we need to do in order to be fully prepared to let it fly on Friday."

The Golden Bears have won four national titles, which ranks third in the NCAA – with two coming under Acosta (2016 and 2018).

At last year's NCAA Championships in Sarasota, Florida, Cal took sixth place with 101 points after the varsity eight advanced to the Grand Finals and captured fourth place while the varsity four and second varsity eight advanced to the Petite Finals and finished in first and third place, respectively.

With the sixth-place finish last year, Cal extended its streak of top-10 overall finishes to 23 straight years dating back to the 1999 season.

The Bears are coming off a third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships after finishing third in the first and second varsity eights and varsity four and second in the third varsity eight.

In the preliminary round starting on Friday, the ninth-seeded varsity eight will kick things off in the third heat at 9:24 a.m. EDT, which also includes Gonzaga, No. 4 Stanford, No. 7 Brown, No. 12 Ohio State and Jacksonville.

The seventh-seeded second varsity eight will race in the second heat at 10:00 a.m., which includes Northeastern, No. 13 SMU, No. 1 Princeton and No. 15 Rutgers.

The eighth-seeded varsity four will compete in the first heat at 10:36 a.m., which includes No. 16 Indiana, No. 14 Duke, No 2 Texas and No. 15 Rutgers.  

The top three of each heat will go to the A/B semifinals and the rest will go to the C/D semifinals on Saturday. From the top semifinals, three boats will go to the A (Grand) final, three to the B (Petite) final, and same for the C/D finals.

Complete Race Schedule (all times EDT)

Friday, May 26th - Heats:
9:24 a.m. - V8+ - heat 3
Lanes 1-6: Gonzaga, Cal (2), Stanford, Brown, Ohio State, Jacksonville
 
10:00 a.m. - 2V8+ - heat 2
Lanes 1-5: Northeastern, SMU, Princeton, Cal (4), Rutgers
 
10:36 a.m. - V4+ - heat 1
Lanes 1-5: Indiana, Duke, Texas, Cal (4), Rutgers
 
Saturday, May 27th - Semifinals:
 
8:12 a.m. V8+ C/D Semifinals
8:24 a.m. V8+ C/D Semifinals
8:36 a.m. V8+ A/B Semifinals
8:48 a.m. V8+ A/B Semifinals
9:00 a.m. 2V8+ C/D Semifinals
9:12 a.m. 2V8+ C/D Semifinals
9:24 a.m. 2V8+ A/B Semifinals
9:36 a.m. 2V8+ A/B Semifinals
9:48 a.m. V4+ C/D Semifinals
10:00 a.m. V4+ C/D Semifinals
10:12 a.m. V4+ A/B Semifinals
10:24 a.m. V4+ A/B Semifinals
 
Sunday, May 28th - Finals:
 
8:12 a.m. V4+ D Final (places 19-22)
8:24 a.m. V4+ C Final (places 13-18)
8:36 a.m. 2V8+ D Final (places 19-22)
8:48 a.m. 2V8+ C Final (places 13-18)
9:00 a.m. V8+ D Final (places 19-22)
9:12 a.m. V8+ C Final (places 13-18)
9:24 a.m. V4+ Petite Final (places 7-12)
9:36 a.m. V4+ Grand Final (places 1-6)
9:48 a.m. 2V8+ Petite Final (places 7-12)
10:00 a.m. 2V8+ Grand Final (places 1-6)
10:12 a.m. V8+ Petite Final (places 7-12)
10:24 a.m. V8+ Grand Final (places 1-6)