After an undefeated regular season and a sweep at the ACC Championships, Stanford women’s rowing will enter this weekend’s NCAA Championships as the top seed in all three boat classes.

Racing begins on Friday at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey, where the Cardinal will take on a 22-team field over three days of competition. As the top seeds, Stanford’s varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four will each open the weekend in lane three of heat one in their respective heat races. 

The national stage is familiar territory for the Cardinal, who are making their 16th consecutive NCAA appearance. After winning the program’s second national title in 2023, the Cardinal will look to reclaim the crown by dethroning defending champions Texas — the team Stanford finished as runner-ups to in 2024, 2022 and 2021.

In late April, Stanford’s championship boats swept then-No.1 Texas at the Longhorn Invitational. The boats also swept a dual against No. 3 Tennessee, the third-place finisher at last year’s NCAA Championships, and maintained an undefeated record for the entirety of the regular season. 

To open the postseason on May 17, Stanford claimed its fourth-consecutive conference title at the ACC Championships in record-breaking fashion. The team won all five grand finals by margins greater than 5.5 seconds, setting four ACC Championship records along the way. With the victory, Stanford secured the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, edging out No. 9 California, No. 11 Syracuse and No. 13 Virginia.

Stanford’s varsity eight will kick off the team’s national title pursuit at 9:48 a.m. ET on Friday, racing against No. 8 seed Michigan, No. 9 seed Brown, No. 16 seed Harvard and No. 17 seed Syracuse.

This article has been updated to reflect that the 2023 title was the program’s second NCAA title.