WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's rowing team wrapped up their first season under first-year Head Coach Dan Schenk with their best finishes in the first varsity eight championship as well as the team championship as the 2025 NCAA Division III Rowing Championships concluded Saturday morning (May 31).
 
St. Mary's College, which is in its ninth year as a varsity program, collected a seventh-place finish in the team championship with a program-best 29 points for its highest finish in three trips to the NCAA Championships. In their two previous appearances (2022 and 2024), the Seahawks placed eighth both times.
 
Tufts University repeated as the national team champion, collecting 56 points after winning both the first varsity eight (1V8) and second varsity eight (2V8) grand finals. Williams College finished as the national team runner-up with 49 points while Wesleyan University rounded out the Top 3 with 45 points.
 
2025 NCAA Division III Women's Rowing Championship Team Standings
1. Tufts (59)
2. Williams (49)
3. Wesleyan (45)
4. Bates (44)
5. Ithaca (34)
6. Wellesley (30)
7. St. Mary's College (29)
8. Pacific Lutheran (21)
 
In the program's first-ever appearance in the 1V8 grand final at NCAAs, SMCM placed sixth, breaking the seven-minute mark for the first-time ever at the NCAAs. St. Mary's College clocked a 6:48.740, holding its own in a crowded field of former national champions and pushing the field until the last second. The Seahawks missed a fifth-place finish by a 4.112-second margin to Ithaca College (6:44.628).
 
The sixth-place finish by the 1V8 is the highest ever as the Seahawks came in eighth in their two earlier NCAA trips, coming in second in the petit final both times.
 
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.)
 
SMCM won the 2V8 petit final to finish seventh overall. St. Mary's College easily overtook Pacific Lutheran University by over a minute (1:04.424) as the Seahawks posted a time of 7:29.860 and PLU crossed the finish line in 8:34.284. This is the second straight time that SMCM has won the petit final and placed seventh.
 
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.)
 
This year's NCAA Championships were held on Mercer Lake in Mercer County Park in West Windsor, N.J. This is the same site where SMCM captured the program's third Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) Championship crown (May 4) for the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAAs.
 
Up Next for the Seahawks

• Season Complete

 
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