No. 4 Women’s Rowing Grabs Third-Place Result at NCAA II National Championship

5/28/2022 4:52:00 PM | By: Kyrin Mayfield | @k_mayfield97

Results
SARASOTA, Fla. - A second-place finish in Fours and a fourth-place result in Eights gave the No. 4 Embry-Riddle women's rowing team 19 points to finish third in the overall standings at the NCAA II National Championship. Despite tying Western Washington on the leaderboard, the Vikings edged the Eagles in the tiebreaker, which was the program's finishing position in Eights. Embry-Riddle improves upon last year's fourth-place showing in the program's first appearance.

The Eagles were one of two teams, the other being Mercyhurst, to lock both Varsity 4 and 8 boats into the grand final, which set up a promising day on the waters of Nathan Benderson Park. What was an anticipated 11:42 a.m. start time for the Fours grand final eventually was pushed back to 1 p.m. due to multiple weather delays.

For the opening 1500 meters, the Blue and Gold led the four-boat field, keeping Mercyhurst just a few tenths behind. However, the Lakers pulled out a late charge to push the Eagle-powered boat of Lauren Enders (coxswain), Kristen Vigna, Helen Carey, Gwendolyn Powell, Alexandria Fife-Winslow to second. At the end, Embry-Riddle stopped the clock at 7:49.647, just two seconds back for 10 points.

In the Varsity 8 grand final, Megan Byrne (coxswain), Veronika Zdrazil, Alexandra Weilert, Kendra Sander, Elise Dezotell, Helena Schmidt, Bethany Thompson, Sofia Lorenzini, and Shelby Ernst maintained pace with the other three vessels over the first 500 meters but fell behind from that point on. The Eagles went on to finish fourth with a 7:16.699 to earn nine points.

Mercyhurst swept the competition in both classifications, accumulating the maximum 30 points. Both Western Washington and Embry-Riddle tallied 19 points for second and third. Central Oklahoma and Thomas Jefferson each recorded 14 points while Seattle Pacific picked up nine.

This concludes a historic season for women's rowing. In 2021-22, the Eagles grabbed Sunshine State Conference and Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association (FIRA) championships on the way to earning a second-straight appearance in the NCAA II National Championship. Four Embry-Riddle rowers were named to the All-SSC team with an additional selection to the conference's All-Freshman/Novice team. On top of that, the Eagles' Varsity 4 boat was tabbed as the SSC Boat of the Year, becoming the first boat in program history to do so.

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