The Michigan women's crew team will be traveling to San Diego for the San Diego Crew Classic on Saturday.
The Wolverines will be competing in Heat A of the Whittier Cup division - the premier event of the regatta.
Only 12 teams in the nation are invited to attend the highly selective event, and Michigan will be looking to be one of the three teams from its heat to continue into the finals.
The Wolverines will face Washington, Massachusetts, Yale, Stanford and Georgetown in Heat A.
Heat B will consist of Wisconsin, Virginia, Washington State, Pennsylvania, Oregon State and California.
"It's going to be highly competitive," Michigan assistant coach Pamm Carroll said. "These are the best crews in the country. We're going to be facing some stiff competition, and it's going to be really exciting.
"If the seeding ends up right, we could be a surprise out there. Getting out of the heats and into the final with the top schools will be a great challenge."
The Wolverines will face some tough competition in their heat, especially from Washington and UMass - two of the best teams in the country.
Washington was last year's Whittier Cup winner, followed by Wisconsin and Washington State.
As a newly formed varsity program, Michigan will be competing in the regatta for the first time.
The Wolverines will be coming off of a 6:41.36-6:42.65 loss to Virginia last weekend with its first boat and a solid win over George Washington with all four boats competing.
"It was really exciting to have that race last week," Carroll said. "Virginia has a good program that's up-and-coming. It was great to see that we were so close to such a good crew.
"The girls have known that they were fast all year, but now they can start to believe it. Everything is starting to pay off."
The Wolverines are concentrating on being one of the teams to make it to the finals of the Whittier Cup, as well as improving their record against national powers such as Washington, Wisconsin and Virginia, in order to secure a place at nationals at the end of the year.
"We have a heavy schedule, and we will have to perform well at all of our races to go as far as possible this year," Carroll said. "It's a lot of pressure for the girls with such a schedule."
Michigan's two top boats will compete in San Diego, while the two novice boats will compete in a meet at home.