After finishing in fourth place in last week’s Pac-10 Championships, the UW women’s crew team thought its season was over. Coach Bob Ernst said the team had “no chance” of making it to the NCAA Championships.

However, the NCAA selection board thought differently. They granted the Huskies a team berth.

“The thing that got us in was the depth of our team,” Ernst said. “The fact that our [four-person boats] were as good as they were, and how even though they didn’t win the Pac-10, the JV was ranked No. 1.”

This year’s bid gives UW the honor of being only one of three teams to receive bids to all 11 NCAA women’s rowing championships.

The UW crews will have a fresh memory of the championship course, as it is the same course from the Pac-10 Championships at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The tournament is scheduled to start today, with finals set to take place Sunday.

The UW will see a lot of the same competition from that regatta, as five of the six teams from the Pac-10 finals will be competing again in the NCAA Championship. California and Washington State received team bids, while Stanford and USC received at-large bids. The UW will also have to face off against Brown, Harvard, Ohio State, Princeton, Tennessee, Virginia, Yale and newcomers Michigan State and Wisconsin.

“I think that it is going to be really tight,” sophomore Kayleigh Mack said. “The whole nation is really fast this year. No matter who wins, it is going to be really fast this year.”

The NCAA Championship regatta was last held on Lake Natoma in 2006, when California took home the title. Last year, Brown won its record fifth NCAA Championship at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The UW has its fair share of championships as well, having won in 1997, 1998 and 2001.

The tournament will be scored differently than the Pac-10 tournament, as teams will not enter freshman eight boats. Instead, it will be scored on a point basis, taking into account the scores of the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four boats. This means that all of the UW crew boats will have to perform well in order for the team to succeed.

“I honestly believe that they will give their best performance of the year in this regatta,” Ernst said. “Our goal is to make all the finals. If we make all the finals, then anything can happen.”