Courtesy: Tom Nowak The Princeton open crew finished second in its opening heat at the NCAA championships.

The eighth-ranked Princeton varsity eight rowed a second straight strong race on the waters of Cooper River. One week after surging past Brown to hit the medal stand at the EAWRC championships, Princeton moved into the semifinals of the 2009 NCAA championships with a strong opening heat Friday morning.

The Tigers needed at least a third-place finish to qualify for Saturday's semifinal heat; with a pair of Top-5 opponents in the field, many may have viewed them and Clemson as the top contenders for that spot. Princeton had other ideas, though. It held third after 500 meters, but an extremely strong second split moved Princeton into second place. Fourth-ranked Virginia led after every split and won the heat in 6:29.51, but Princeton's early success but it in good position against No. 5 Michigan.

The Wolverines, one of two teams to defeat Princeton this season, made a slight move on the Tigers at the midway point of the race, but the final 500 belonged to Princeton. With the second-fastest final split in the field, Princeton finished strong to place second in 6:31.49. Clemson had a slightly faster final sprint and ended up third in 6:32.57. Michigan made a shocking fall into the afternoon repechage and needs a third-place or better performance to keep its title hopes alive.

The second eight and varsity four will need a strong repechage to keep its respective golden hopes alive. The second eight placed fifth in 7:01.74, while the varsity four also finished eighth in 7:55.80. Both will need a third-place-or-better row this afternoon on Cooper River, or both will go to the third-level finals on Sunday.