WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's rowing team's first varsity eight boat (1V8) punched its ticket to the grand final at the NCAA Division III Rowing Championships for the first time in program history Friday afternoon (May 30) following their impressive performance in the repechage. St. Mary's College is now guaranteed their highest finish ever at the NCAA Championships.
 
This year's NCAA Championships are taking place on Mercer Lake in Mercer County Park in West Windsor, N.J. This is the same site that the Seahawks' captured the program's third Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) Championship crown (May 4) for the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAAs. SMCM, who is in its ninth year as a varsity program, has made three trips to the NCAA Championships (2022, 2024, 2025).


 
How It Happened
Women's 1V8

• St. Mary's College notched a fourth-place finish in this morning's four-team Heat 2 in 7:26.633, garnering a spot in the afternoon's repechage.
• The afternoon's repechage was neck-in-neck from start to finish between the Seahawks, Ithaca College, and Wellesley College, so much so that SMCM did not know they had made the grand final until they headed back to dock.
• St. Mary's College clocked a 7:01.191 behind sheer determination and power to take second in the repechage. The Seahawks came in just 0.695 seconds behind Ithaca, who won the repechage in 7:00.496.
• As the Top 2 finishers, Ithaca and SMCM locked up their spots in Saturday's grand final at 8:24 am with St. Mary's College racing in Lane 1.
• The Seahawks are the newcomers to the grand final, joining past champions, Bates College, Williams College, Tufts University, and Ithaca while Wesleyan University finished as the NCAA runner-up last year.
• Not only is it the first-ever grand final appearance for SMCM, but it's also the first-ever grand final appearance by any MARC program. St. Mary's College can now finish higher than seventh for the first time in program history in the team standings as the Seahawks have recorded eighth-place finishes in their previous NCAA appearances.

 
Women's 1V8 Lineup:
Coxswain: Captain Tiffany Dioko '25 (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis)
Stroke: Erin Rhodes '25 (Silver Spring, Md./St. John's College)
7: Abby Shackelford '27 (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville)
6: Haley Roche '25 (Narragansett, R.I./Shrewsbury (Mass.))
5: Elise Kinyanjui '25 (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair)
4: Alex Cumber '26 (Frederick, Md.)
3: Charlotte Hope '27 (Davidsonville, Md./Broadneck)
2: Anna Culver '26 (Sykesville, Md./Liberty)
Bow: Nadia Velasco '25 (Capitol Heights, Md.)
 
Women's 2V8

• The Seahawks placed fourth in the morning's Heat 2 in 7:58.846, earning a spot in the afternoon's repechage.
• In the four-team repechage, SMCM battled all race long, pushing Wellesley and Ithaca to their limits. St. Mary's College came up just short of a spot in the 2V8 grand final, posting a 7:16.895 for third. The Seahawks were 2.361 seconds behind second-place Ithaca (7:14.534) while Wellesley won the repechage in 7:11.589.
• SMCM will battle Pacific Lutheran University for seventh place in tomorrow's petite final at 8 am in Lane 3.

 
Women's Second Varsity 8+ Lineup:
Coxswain: Gabriella Zimlich-Vasquez '27 (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson)
Stroke: Gabriella Hannan '27 (Seattle, Wash./Lincoln)
7: Lara Pauw '28 (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson)
6: Claire Thompson '27 (Walpole, Maine/McCaskey)
5: Kate Wachter '26 (Takoma Park, Md./Montgomery Blair)
4: Victoria Mathis '26 (Frederick, Md./Urbana)
3: Olivia Barr '27 (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty)
2: Adina Field '25 (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill)
Bow: Lucy Worthington '27 (Buxton, N.C.)
 
Up Next for the Seahawks

• May 31 – 2V8 in petit final (Lane 3) – 8 am
• May 31 – 1V8 in grand final (Lane 1) – 8:24 am

 
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