WORCESTER, MA (May 12, 2024) – The Tufts University Women’s Rowing first varsity eight won the team’s first-ever NESCAC Championship today by finishing first in the grand final at the 2024 National Invitational Rowing Championships on Lake Quinsigamond.
The NIRC 1V8 grand final also serves as the NESCAC Championship, and the race today featured six of the top 10 teams in the Division III national poll. The Jumbos, ranked #1 in Division III for the past few weeks, proved their excellence by winning the race in a 6:52.089 time. They were three seconds ahead of second-place and #3 ranked Trinity College (6:55.249), #2 ranked Wesleyan in third (6:55.527) and #4 ranked Williams who was fifth (6:55.735) who were all within a half-second of each other. It’s a first-ever NIRC first varsity win for the Jumbos as well. The Jumbos had cruised to a 7:06.403 win in their morning heat, in front of second-place Wellesley (7:09.165), to get into the grand final.
The victory earns Tufts the conference’s automatic qualifying berth into the NCAA Division III Championships coming up May 31 through June 2 in Bethel, Ohio. It also highlighted a tremendous day on the water for Tufts today. Coach Lily Siddall‘s team also won NIRC championships in third and fourth varsity races and the novice eight, and they were the runner-up in the second varsity event.
Final Point Trophy standings for the 2024 NIRC were not yet available at the time of this release and will be added once they are completed. The Jumbos won the Team Points Trophy in 2023.
Tufts was edged by Williams College in the NIRC second varsity final today. Tufts was barely a second behind (7:10.582) the Ephs (7:09.346) in a great race. Wesleyan was third, two lengths behind Tufts in 7:17.806. The Jumbos had won the first heat in the morning, finishing nearly a length ahead of Hamilton College (7:11.493 to 7:15.937).
Both the Tufts third and fourth varsity teams won NIRC titles for the second year in a row.
In the third varsity eight, the Jumbos had won their six-team heat handily with a 7:14.539 time that was almost nine seconds in front of Hamilton’s 7:23.090 finish. In the grand final runner-up Hamilton was closer, but Tufts still pulled out the win with a 7:15.300 time to 7:19.204 by the Continentals. The Jumbos added this NIRC title to their second straight win at the New England Rowing Championships last weekend.
Tufts won a three-team fourth varsity eight race on the women’s side with a 7:26.603 mark today that was 12 seconds in front of second-place Smith College. The W5V8 then won the four-team Women’s Novice 8 grand final with a 7:40.377 mark ahead of Ithaca College’s 7:49.208.
Starting eights for the women’s team were not available at the time of this release. However, they resemble the line-ups from last week’s New England teams. Any changes to these groups will be made when they become available:
1V8 – coxswain Hannah Jiang, Rose Tinkjian, Janna Moore, Shira Roberts, Emma Mahoney, Summer Maxwell, Samara Haynes, Karen Dooley and Emma Lyle;
2V8 – coxswain Maddie Rosato with Margot Durfee, Reilly Uiterwyk, Amanda Downing, Hadley Keefe, Lucy Howell, Aoife Schmitt, Julia Zipoli and Sydney Barr;
3V8 – coxswain Shriyaa Srihari, Lecia Sun, Natalie Graham, Alicia Coble, Sophie Cumming, Grace Hamilton, Brooke Thompson, Molly Heeney and Ashna Garikapati;
4V8 – coxswain Sophie Novitsky, Ashley Brzezenski, Zenani Himlin-Mayekiso, Sophia Brackett, Alex Timoney, Stella Shen, Sanjana Rao, Alice Wall and Cecelia Wilson;
5V8 – coxswain Alex Boyer, Eva Swei, Giavanna Magnoni, Sheelyn Pharr, Nosara Maxwell, Fiona Smirl, Savannah Fredriksen, Hannah Schiller, Lyra Bornholdt-Collins and Claire Carson.
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