Orange Make History with Top 10 NCAA Finish

Friday, May 28

Sarasota, FL

Syracuse University

NCAA Championship

5/30/2021 8:36:00 PM | Women's Rowing

The Orange women's rowing team placed 10th at the 2021 NCAA Championship, marking the highest finish in program history. Syracuse's varsity eight finished 12th, while the second varsity eight and the varsity four came in 11th to score 69 points for the Orange at championship regatta at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla. Texas won the championship with 126 points.

Syracuse's record-setting performance was set up when all three boats qualified for the A/B semifinals, which was a first in program history. The 2002 Orange team recorded a 12th-place team finish, while Syracuse's 2016 and 2017 teams placed 13th and the 2018 Orange came in 16th.

"Overall it was definitely a step in the right direction for the program," said head coach Luke McGee. "Our goal was to finish in the top 10 in the country and they did that. As competitors you always want to win, so there is a little tinge of disappointment. For the seniors and fifth-years who came back, it was their goal coming in as freshmen was to move the program forward, and they did that. They laid the next level of the foundation for this program bringing the team to NCAAs (2017 and 2018) and now they have done a nice job of getting it to that next level, which is getting to the A/B semifinals and finishing in the top 10."

The Orange were one of three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools at the 2021 NCAA Championship. Virginia placed fifth (106 points) and Duke finished 16th (55 points).

In the varsity eight petite final, the 14th-seeded Orange crossed the finish line in 6:42.019 behind seventh-seed Ohio State (6:27.717), 17th-seed Brown (6:30.063), eighth-seed California (6:32.477), ninth-seed Princeton (6:32.569) and 11th-seed Alabama (6:38.759),and. The 12th place finish is the best for the Orange V8 since 2016. The 2001 varsity eight turned in the best race in program history, finished sixth when it earned an at-large invitation to the NCAA Championship.

"The varsity has shown some really great performances," McGee said. "We needed that race in the (repechage). It is the smallest of margins at this level, so they showed a ton of maturity to finish ahead that time. They showed a ton of grit."

Syracuse's second varsity eight matched the 2002 boat for the second-best finish in Orange history. The 2017 and 2018 2V8s placed 11th. The 2021 Orange came in ahead of 14th-seed Wisconsin, finishing the race in 6:40.017. Eighth-seed Brown won the race in 6:30.915, followed by ninth-seed SMU (6:32.107), 10th-seed California (6:34.013) and seventh-seed Rutgers (6:34.601). Wisconsin finished in 6:44.053.

"It has been a pleasure see the 2V grow and race," McGee said. "They race with a lot of passion and intensity. They've been having a lot of fun. Their performances continued to get better."

The 11th-seeded varsity four matched the 2002 V4 for the best finish in program history with an 11th-place performance. The 2021 varsity four beat seventh-seed Brown, crossing the finish line in 7:26.863. Ninth-seed Rutgers won the petite final (7:21.861), followed by 12th-seed Washington State (7:23.997), eighth-seed Duke (7:24.967) and 14th-seed California (7:25.365). Brown finished in 7:29.57).

"The four has been huge for us all year long," McGee said. "We rode them early as far as their results for rankings which set us up really well."

The Orange will lose 10 rowers to graduation, including fifth-year seniors Madeleine Holzman-Klima, Maddy Horridge and Lucy Pearce, seniors Christie Castorino, Josie Kiesel, Lily Moffly, Helena O'Donnell and Meg Varcoe, and junior Grace Asch, who earned her Syracuse degree in three years.

"We learned a lot of lessons at this regatta," McGee said. "It is huge for the program moving forward from here. We have to take away the positives and figure out where we want to go with it. They should be happy with what they accomplished but also that feeling of wanting to finish higher. I hope the experience here has fostered that sense that they do belong in that top group. If they want to keep moving forward, as we all do, they have to keep fighting for it."

Varsity 8
C Hannah Murphy
8 Eleanor Alexopoulos
7 Lucy Pearce
6 Meg Varcoe
5 Maddy Horridge
4 Lea Dahn
3 Alena Criss
2 Emma Braun
1 Josie Kiesel

Second Varsity 8
C Louise Rath
8 Eliza Yager
7 Katharine Ryan
6 Junior Ognovich
5 Kamile Kralikaite
4 Emma Gossman
3 India Aikens
2 Madeleine Holzman-Klima
1 Christie Castorino

Varsity 4
C Skyler Rivera
4 Heather Stafford
3 Grace Asch
2 Haley Uliasz
1 Luisa Gathmann

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