Massachusetts Rowing Set for NCAA Championship Beginning Friday

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The MAC Champion University of Massachusetts rowing team will return to the racecourse this weekend when it competes in the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2017, as one of 22 schools from around the country to converge in Georgia. The Minutewomen swept those boats in the MAC Championship two weekends ago, while also winning the Third Varsity 8 and Second Varsity 4.

"It has been a whirlwind since winning the MAC," said head coach Eric Carcich, the conference's coach of the year. "A lot of energy went into that event, and we had to quickly shift gears to prepare for NCAAs. Only 22 teams out of the 90 plus DI programs are still training and attending this championship, so we're really excited to be a part of that."

Racing begins on Friday morning with heats as the Varsity 8, Second Varsity 8 and Varsity 4 will all compete. UPDATE: Racing has been adjusted due to anticipated weather. Friday will now feature heats in the morning and semifinals in the afternoon. The top three finishers of all Friday heats will advance to the AB semifinals, with the remaining teams to compete in the CD semifinals. From there, each crew will qualify for the A, B, C or D final Sunday morning to wrap up the championship weekend.

Friday Schedule
Heats
8:58 a.m. – Varsity 8 (heat 4)
9:30 a.m. – Second Varsity 8 (heat 4)
10:02 a.m. -- Varsity 4 (heat 4)

Semifinals
Begin at 4:04 p.m. For the full schedule/results, please click here.

"We're really excited to put our best three races together, Friday to Sunday, and compete against the best," said Carcich. "That's what we've been building towards, and we're excited to execute over the weekend. We're looking to have our best speed in our very last races of the year. "

NCAA Championship History
This will mark Massachusetts' seventh all-time NCAA Championship appearance, previously qualifying in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2014, 2015 and 2017. This season marked UMass' 17th conference championship after winning 16 in the Atlantic 10.

The best UMass showing at NCAAs came in 1997 and 1998 when UMass placed second in the Varsity 8 Grand Final, trailing only Washington on both occasions.

Projected UMass Boat Lineups
Varsity 8
Amanda Scally (c)
Olivia Ollerenshaw
Sarah Happs
Antonia Gigacher
Sonya Mazrimas
Erin Smith
Mia Booth
Grace Turnbull
Sotiria Michailidi

Second Varsity 8
AJ Prahl (c)
Maeva GK
Hannah Glover
Louise Roper
Maddie Cockburn
Ruby Hodges
Mia Lowes
Bella Ross
Felicity Pye

Varsity 4
Meghan O'Hern (c)
Ana Kolesnikova
Gretta Anderson
Teagan Blue
Lauren Carpenter

-- UMassAthletics.com --

Scoreboard

Massachusetts Rowing Set for NCAA Championship Beginning Friday

Players Mentioned

Gretta Anderson

Teagan Blue

Mia Booth

Lauren Carpenter

Maddie Cockburn

Antonia Gigacher

Hannah Glover

Sarah Happs

Ruby Hodges

Mia Lowes

Sonya Mazrimas

Sotiria Michailidi

Meghan O'Hern

Olivia Ollerenshaw

AJ Prahl

Felicity Pye

Louise Roper

Bella Ross

Amanda Scally

Erin Smith

Grace Turnbull

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics