University of Massachusets Athletics
Five Minutewomen Honored As CRCA Scholar-Athletes
May 25, 2011 | Rowing
May 25, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. - Five UMass rowers have been named National Scholar-Athletes, the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) announced yesterday. Junior Emily Boucher, graduate student Megan Donovan, senior Carly Payne, senior Samantha Schnoerr and senior Rachel Spielberg all represented the Minutewomen on the list. To be named a National Scholar-Athlete by the CRCA, a rower needs a minimum 3.5 career grade point average or higher and must have competed in 75 percent of the team's 2011 spring races.
Boucher, Donovan and Payne, the Coxswain, were all part of the Lightweight Four finished in first place and won the Robert Espeseth Trophy at the 2011 Dad Vail Regatta in the team's final competition of the season.
Boucher earned her first Atlantic 10 academic all-conference selection this year following the Second Varsity Eight's second place finish at the A-10 Championships (8:38.37). The Anthropology major has been named to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll in each of the past three semesters, and was part of the USRowing Under-23 National Team last summer where she competed in the Lightweight Single Sculls.
Donovan, a Kinesiology major, adds to a long list of accolades earned in her UMass career. She was previously the Atlantic 10 Rowing Student-Athlete of the Year and UMass Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in addition to earning a first team all-conference nod in 2010. She has been a past member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll, as well.
Payne was selected as a member of the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team this season after serving as coxswain of the Second Varsity Eight boat that took second at the conference championships. The Accounting major was am member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2010.
Schnoerr, coxswain for the Varsity Eight, helped the Minutewomen to a third place finish at the A-10 Championships. She was honored as the 2011 UMass Spring Scholar-Athlete and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and has been named to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for the past three semesters. The Legal Studies major will be attending Michigan State College of Law next fall.
Spielberg was a part of the UMass Varsity Four that captured gold in the Grand Final of the Knecht Cup this spring and finished first at the Yankee Cup. The Art major is a three-time member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll (Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010).