The Bates women's rowing team will look to win their second straight national title Saturday in Gold River, Calif. (Aaron Morse/Bates College)

GOLD RIVER, Calif. -- The No. 2 nationally ranked Bates women's rowing team's second varsity eight led wire-to-wire to win their heat as the Bobcats secured a spot in both of Saturday's grand finals with strong performances in the NCAA Championships on Friday.

Live Video: Saturday

In the second heat of the day, the second varsity eight defeated No. 1 nationally ranked Williams and No. 15 nationally ranked William Smith. 

The Bobcats traversed the first 500 meters in 1:38.930, compared to Williams' time of 1:39.750. Bates extended their lead after the first 1,000 meters and pulled away in convincing fashion through the 1,500-meter mark. 

The second varsity eight finished the heat in a victorious 6:46.991, advancing to Saturday's grand final and sending the top-ranked Ephs (6:54.749) and William Smith (7:37.426) to the repechage.

The first varsity eight finished second to No. 5 nationally ranked Wellesley in their heat, but that was good enough to advance to the grand final as they held off No. 9 Pacific Lutheran, sending the Lutes to the repechage. No. 13 Washington (Md.) finished a distant fourth to move to the repechage as well.   

The Lutes got off to a strong start in the race, leading through the first 500 meters as the Bobcats found themselves in third place. But Bates put together a strong second 500 meters, traversing the middle portion of the course in 1:39.653. Through 1,500 meters, Bates found themselves only two seconds slower than the Blue. 

However Wellesley pulled away a little bit over the final 500 meters to secure the win in 6:42.998. The Bobcats finished the heat in 6:46.549 and the Lutes crossed the finish line in 6:51.218.

The grand finals are set for Saturday with the W2V8 competing at 2:12 p.m. eastern time. The Bobcats have won the W2V8 grand final the past two years. 

The first varsity eight will look to win the first WV8 grand final in Bates history Saturday at 2:36 p.m. eastern.

The combined results of the WV8 and the W2V8 grand finals on Saturday will determine the 2016 national champion.  

Bates Boatings for the 2016 NCAA Championships:

WV8: Bow: Laura Rand '18 (Barrington, R.I.), Alison Simmons '16 (Indiana, Pa.), Emma Conover '16 (Camden, Maine), Emma Taylor '16 (Scituate, Mass.), Rosemary Kyne '18 (Nashville, Tenn), Olivia Stockly '18 (Cumberland, Maine), Emilie Muller '16 (Concord, N.H.); Stroke: Lena Rintell '19 (Brookline, Mass.); Cox: Katherine Traquina '17 (Wayland, Mass.)

W2V8: Bow: Margaux Joselow '16 (Manchester, N.H.), Grace Jurkovich '18 (St. Paul, Minn.), Sophia Merelas '18 (Pelham, N.Y.), Kiera Degener-O'Brien '16 (Portland, Ore.), Ella Bourland '19 (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Phoebe Long '19 (Riverside, Conn.), Molly Pritz '17 (Ithaca, N.Y.); Stroke: Julia Mason '17 (Niskayuna, N.Y.), Cox: Abigail Bierman '17 (Bethlehem, N.Y.)