Syracuse Is Headed to NCAA Championships

Syracuse will row at the NCAA Championship for the fourth year in a row. The Orange are the Atlantic Coast Conference automatic qualifier as the 2024 ACC champions. The Syracuse varsity eight is the eighth seed, while the second varsity eight is the ninth seed and the varsity four is the 17th seed. The Orange are one of three ACC schools, along with Virginia and Duke, in the 22-team field at the 2024 NCAA Championship. The NCAA Championship will be held May 31 to June 2 at East Fork/Harsha Lake in Bethel, Ohio.

"The NCAA Championship field is incredibly deep," said head Coach Luke McGee, two-time ACC Coach of the Year. "We have known that all year. There is a lot of speed across the board and that is a real testament to the depth of women's rowing right now. We are excited to go out there and race with a little bit of edge to see what we can do against some top competition. Certainly, we have been working really hard and showing some really good speed. We are excited to go out and prove ourselves."

NCAA racing begins on May 31 with the first of four varsity eight heats starting at 9:48 am. The second varsity eight heats start at 10:36 am followed by the varsity four heats that begin at 11:24 am. The semifinals start at 8:12 am on June 1 and the finals are set to begin at 8:12 am on June 2.

"This season has been a total team effort," McGee said. "That buy-in from the very beginning from this whole group, that commitment to what they want to do for themselves, for the University and for the City of Syracuse has been really exciting and has proven itself on the racecourse. When you get into the tough moments and when it is really challenging, to know that the person in front of you and behind you has your back is really important. Just to have that confidence in one another is really the game changer."

During the 2024 season, Syracuse raced against 10 teams ranked in the top 20 and 10 teams that will compete at the NCAA Championship.

"We set up a really hard schedule this year intentionally," McGee said. "We wanted to race the best teams in the country. We knew that we might take some licks here and there, but that ability to move up the mountain and come back down, reset, retool and keep going back up has been really important for us in keeping us focused and trying to reach the highest high."

The Orange varsity eight will race #1 seed Texas, #9 seed Brown, #16 seed Duke and #17 seed Gonzaga in the first heat of the championship. Syracuse's second varsity eight heat will include #1 seed Texas, #8 seed California, #16 seed Pennsylvania and #17 seed Gonzaga. In the Orange varsity four race, Syracuse will face #1 seed Stanford, #8 seed Washington, #9 seed Ohio State and #16 seed Gonzaga.

"Coming into this season we talked as a team and with the coaches about how we wanted to take the next step forward with this program and have a training plan harder than we have ever had before," said team co-captain Elizabeth Vogt. "Everyone on this team did a really good job embracing that. It is really rewarding seeing everyone get faster and seeing that payoff last weekend with the ACC Championship is an indescribable feeling."

Syracuse won the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference championship for the first time in program history last weekend. The 10th-ranked Orange scored 90 points, which tied with 16th-ranked Virginia and won the league title by virtue of winning the varsity eight race. It is the second consecutive ACC title for the varsity eight, which won ACC Crew of the Year for the second consecutive year. The second varsity eight also won gold, marking the second ACC title for a Syracuse 2V8. Both the varsity eight and second varsity eight set ACC Championship records posting times of 6:09.814 and 6:19.406, respectively. Graduate student Emmie Frederico, senior Kamile Kralikaite and juniors Aphrodite Gioulekas and Caileigh Grimes earned All-ACC First Team accolades and graduate student Alena Criss earned All-ACC Second Team honors. It is the third All-ACC First Team honor for Kralikaite and the second for Gioulekas.

"Our training starts with being a big family that is not scared to work hard," said Kralikaite, a three-time All-ACC First Team selection. "We are selfless and ego-less when it comes to seat racing each other because before we race those other teams we race each other nearly every single day."

Syracuse has competed in 11 NCAA Championships, including 2023 when the Orange finished 13th as a team. The Orange have competed in six of the last seven NCAA Championships (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023; no championship in 2020 due to COVID-19).

"It is an incredible feeling to win the ACC Championship and go to the NCAAs because this is the most gritty team I have ever been a part of and for it to finally payoff is amazing," said Criss, a Baldwinsville native. "I started rowing in the boathouse right next to Syracuse when I was 14 years old and I remember when I was learning to row I would see Syracuse row by and was so inspired and motivated. It made me work harder because I knew I wanted to get to this level. It is great to be in my hometown and finishing my collegiate career here."

SYRACUSE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
1997       Varsity 8 at-large invitation (did not place)
2000       Varsity 8 at-large invitation (9th place finish)
2001       Varsity 8 at-large invitation (6th place finish)
2002       Team at-large invitation (12th place overall)
2005       Varsity 8 invited (16th place)
2016       Team at-large invitation (13th place overall)
2017       Team at-large invitation (13th place overall
2018       Team at-large invitation (16th place overall)
2020       No Championship due to COVID-19
2021       Team at-large invitation (10th place overall – best team finish in program history)
2022       Team at-large invitation (17th place overall)
2023       Team at-large invitation (13th place overall)
2024       ACC Champion (automatic qualifier)

The NCAA Rowing champion is determined by total points with points assigned based on the finish in each race. The first-place finisher in the First Varsity Eight will receive 66 points with each subsequent finisher collecting three fewer points – 63 for second, 60 for third, etc. The Second Varsity Eight winner will earn 44 points with each successive finisher collecting two fewer points - 42 points for second, 40 points for third, etc. and the Fours winner will receive 22 points, with the runner-up earning 21 points, third receiving 20 points, etc. Ties will be broken based on the teams' result in the First Eight.

For all of the latest information on Syracuse rowing, follow us on Facebook (Syracuse Women's Rowing), Twitter and Instagram (@cusewrowing).

Syracuse University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Alena Criss

Emmie Frederico

Aphrodite Gioulekas

Caileigh Grimes

Kamile Kralikaite

Elizabeth Vogt

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