Dynasty is a word coach John Murphy avoids with his women’s crew team at Brown University.

But it applies.

The Bears have won five NCAA championships in the last nine years, finished second twice and third twice, a record that would make them the toast of the nation were they basketball or football players.

Brown won its fifth title on Sunday in Oak Ridge, Tenn., by finishing ahead of Virginia in two of the three races in the grand final. The Bears and the Cavaliers were the only teams that qualified for the grand final in varsity eights, junior varsity eights and varsity fours.

“I’m very happy we won those championships, but dynasty? I don’t know. I know how quickly in sports it can be here and gone,” Murphy said yesterday from his home in Barrington, where he was looking back at the NCAAs and looking ahead to racing at Henley on the Thames in England in June and July.

In rowing, championships are won a number of ways. Last year, California and Brown tied for first in points at the NCAA Division I Women’s Rowing Championship, but Cal won the title because it finished three-tenths of a second ahead of Brown in the varsity final, the primary tie-breaking measure.

This year, Brown finished fourth in the varsity final but won the national championship because it finished ahead of fifth-place Virginia.

“A lot of teams had good varsity eights but didn’t have as good JV eights or fours. Brown and Virginia were the only teams to qualify all three in the grand final. We had to beat Virginia,” Murphy said.

The championship came down to the last race, the varsity eights. Virginia had finished first and Brown second in the varsity fours, giving Virginia a 12-11 lead in the point totals. Four Brown freshmen — Aubrey Fitzpatrick, Nicole McDonald, Molly Junck and Hannah Malvin — rowed together for the first time. Rebecca Fein was the coxswain.

Brown had finished third and Virginia fourth in the junior varsity eights, putting the Bears ahead of the Cavaliers, 31-30, after two events. Rowing for Brown were senior Jeanette Saraidaridis at stroke, sophomore Anabel Agloro in the seventh seat, freshman Corlis Gross (Rumford/Lincoln School) in the sixth, sophomore Kelly O’Brien in the fifth, senior Elizabeth Fison in the fourth, senior Sarah Brooks in the third, junior Christine Flynn in the second and sophomore Carly Traub in the bow. Sophomore Cristina Caligiuri was the cox.

The varsity eights race was a thriller.

“It came down to us and Virginia, and both teams knew it,” Murphy said.

Yale pulled to an early lead and protected it the rest of the 2,000 meters. At 500 meters, Virginia was second and Brown fourth. At 1,000 meters Brown had moved up to third. At 1,500 meters, USC had moved up the second and Ohio State to third. Brown had slipped to fourth and Virginia to fifth.

At 1,750 meters, Ohio State was second, Brown third, USC fourth and Virginia fifth.

Yale crossed the finish line first in 6:37.08. Ohio State was next in 6:38.77. Southern Cal was third in 6:39.45, about a foot ahead of Brown, which finished fourth in 6:39.55. Virginia was fifth in 6:41.5. Princeton finished sixth.

“It was a great race,” Murphy said. “Yale took the lead, and among everyone else it was flat-out and back-and-forth. Obviously, we would have liked to have finished first.”

But winning a title is better than winning a race, especially given the caliber of competition.

The 12 schools at the championships included Brown, Yale, Princeton and Harvard of the Ivy League, Ohio State and Minnesota of the Big Ten, Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference, California, Southern California and Washington of the Pac-10, Tennessee of the Southeastern Conference and Notre Dame of the Big East.

For Brown to beat H-Y-P of the Ivy League. plus all those big, scholarship-awarding state universities is amazing and a tribute to the athletes and to Murphy and his staff.

The varsity eights boat comprised sophomore Jessica Stage at stroke, junior Vanessa Rathbone in the seven seat, sophomore Joanna Jacob in the sixth seat, senior Devorah West in the fifth, sophomote Corey Finnerty-Ludwig in the fourth seat, junior Emma Olsen in the third, senior Alexandra Hammer in the second, and senior Rachel Dearborn in the bow. Junior Sarah Wu was the coxswain.

Gross, the freshman in the JV boat, is from a rowing family. Her mother Robin coaches at Lincoln School , and her father Peter rowed at Moses Brown, Murphy said. They are longtime members of the Narragansett Boat Club.

Murphy will take three boats to England. All will race in the women’s regatta June 22-24. The varsity eight will stay and compete in the men’s regatta July 4-8. Under NCAA rules teams can make a foreign trip every four years. Brown last went abroad in 2003.

Brown won its first NCAA championship in 1999.

“The first one was unbelievable. I look at the pictures on the wall and relive it,” Murphy said.

Now he has another set to hang.

“This was every bit as exciting. I’m really proud of these kids and how happy they were and their parents.”

Track and field roundup

Speaking of dynasties, Umass-Dartmouth hurdler Jon Garcia was a one-man dynasty during his career, which ended Saturday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Garcia won his second national championship and his fifth All-America designation when he finished first in the 110-meter hurdles in the rain at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium. He finished in 14.58 seconds, comfortably ahead of Dorran Coley of Thiel (14.83) and Ben Zizis of Wisconsin-Platteville (14.90).

Garcia won his first national title at the 2006 Indoors when he edged Marcus Walgrave of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the 55 hurdles. Walgrave won the outdoors title last spring, and Garcia was looking forward to a rematch last weekend. But Walgrave injured his hip last summer and is running the 100 and 200 instead of the hurdles.

“After I won last year indoors and lost outdoors, I was mentally focused all year. I really wanted to win outdoors,” Garcia said on the Umass-Dartmouth Web site.

Garcia was an All-America hurdler indoors and outdoors in 2005 and 2006.

Wheaton freshman Howard Powell finished ninth in the hurdles (15.11).

Wheaton sophomore Chizoba Ezeigwe finished third in the women’s 200 (25.02) and ran a leg on the sixth-place 4x400 relay with Natana Jules, Celeste Karpow and Renee Thompson. She earned All-America resognition in both events and her teammates in the relay.

Springfield sophomore Kelsey Bishop (Warwick/Pilgrim) finished sixth in the hammer (171-5) and is an All-America. She broke her own school record and capped a strong season in which she won the NEWMAC championship for the second time and finished third at the New England Open Championships and second at the ECAC Division III Championships.

Rhode Island College’s Ashley Nyzio (Pawtucket) finished 17th out of 18 competitors in the javelin (119-3). Kayla Fleming (Pawtucket) competed in the high jump, but the results were not posted on the NCAA Web site. The men’s results were posted twice instead.

At the NCAA Division II Championships at Johnson C. Smith University at Charlotte, N.C., Bryant junior Hafiz Greigre did not qualify for the finals in either the 200 or the 400. His times placed him 20th in the 200 (21.75) and 11th in the 400 (47.37).

At the NCAA Division I East Regional at the University of Florida, Max Smith of Providence College won the 1,500 (3:41.09), and Aine Hoban finished fourth in the women’s 5,000 (16:16.05). Both qualified for the NCAA Championships June 6-9 at Sacramento.

Senior Ashhad Agyapong became the first URI runner to qualify for two events at the NCAA Championships when he finished fifth in the 200 (20.72) and sixth in the 100 (10.64) at the East Regional. He is the URI record-holder at both distances and finished 13th at the NCAA Indoors this year.

Brown senior Paul Rosiak finished eighth in the javelin (220-06) at Gainesville.

Roundup

Best wishes to Ray Cordeiro of Bristol, who is ending his 25-year run in the athletics department at Roger Williams University to become the school’s part-time alumni relations ambassador starting July 1. … And to Brown assistant women’s basketball coach Cindy Blodgett, who is leaving College Hill to return to the University of Maine, her alma mater, as head coach. … And apologies to Stephen Wiener, William Clogher, Denis Colacicco, Charles Partington and Herman Ssebazza of the 1967 Brown men’s soccer team. Their names were misspelled in a column about the team’s induction into the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame earlier this month.

mszostak@projo.com