The Washington men's crew traveled to Cherry Hill, N.J. for this weekend's Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships prepared to show that they deserved the No. 1 ranking in the nation. With yesterday morning's preliminary races, the Husky rowers kicked off their quest for the national title with a bang.

Since so many teams are competing in the championships, the preliminary races are divided into heats, where teams compete against each other for a place in the semifinals. In the men's varsity eight, junior varsity eight and freshman eight divisions, the top two finishers in each heat qualify automatically for the semifinals. In the open four event, in which the Huskies also have an entry, the top finisher in each heat automatically qualifies for the final, while the other crews move on to today's repechage races to vie for the other spots in the Grand Final.

In all four events that the UW entered, they are still potential title contenders. In the varsity eight race where the Huskies are the No. 1 seed, the UW placed first in their heat, edging out No. 8-seeded Brown with a time of 5:35.951. The varsity eight boat, led by coxswain Katelin Snyder, is undefeated this season.

The Washington freshman eight boat also finished first in their heat, where they were the No. 4 seed, cruising past fifth-seeded Princeton to earn a place in the semifinals.

The junior varsity eight crew will also be racing in today's semifinals despite placing second to Brown University in their heat. Brown is among the top contenders in this weekend's races, UW crew coach Bob Ernst said.

"Harvard looks great, California looks great and Brown looks pretty good," Ernst said. "I would say those are the three other best teams here."

The Huskies also finished second in the other event that they entered, the open four, meaning that they will race again tomorrow morning in the repechage for a spot in the Grand Finals.

The setup of the championships means that even though some rowers may have started a little slow yesterday, they still have a chance to compete for the title by picking up the pace in today's races.

"That's what's nice about being in a regatta like this," Ernst said. "You can still kind of get in the flow if you don't start out so great."

The efforts from the UW rowers so far have not left much to be desired, however.

"The races have been really good," Ernst said. "Everyone looked great this morning."

Reach reporter Risa Pavia at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.