2024 NCAA Championships Start Friday

Friday, May 31

Bethel, OH

9:30 am

Syracuse University

NCAA Championship - Heats

Second varsity eight at 2024 NCAA practice

Photo by: Tracey Edson

5/30/2024 4:24:00 PM | Women's Rowing

Tenth-ranked Syracuse will open 2024 NCAA Championship racing on Friday at East Fork/Harsha Lake in Bethel, Ohio. The 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference champion Orange earned the league's automatic qualifier bid. 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 NCAA Championship will be held May 31 to June 2. The entire national championship regatta will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

"This NCAA field is incredibly deep, probably the deepest I have ever seen," said head coach Luke McGee. "There are a lot of crews that have the potential to make the A final which means that the heats and the semis are just going to be barnburners. We are going to have to be ready to go from the word 'go'. It will be a really good opportunity to test ourselves against what is the best field I think I have seen.

"We are excited to be here. ACCs was a big win for us. We have had a chance to reset the sights on NCAAs, which was useful to have that time. Now that we are here, they are really excited to go out there and prove themselves.

The 2024 ACC champion Orange varsity eight will race top seed Texas, ninth-seed Brown, 16th-seed Duke and 17-seed Gonzaga in the first varsity eight heats at 9:48 am. Syracuse's lineup features coxswain Caileigh Grimes, stroke Emmie Frederico, Ellie-Kate Hutchinson, Alena Criss, Zoe Acosta, Kamile Kralikaite, India Aikens, Aphrodite Gioulekas and bow Olivia Bachert.

Syracuse's second varsity eight, which won the 2024 ACC championship, will row in the first of four 2V8 heats against #1-seed Texas, #8-seed California, #16-seed Pennsylvania and #17-seed Gonzaga at 10:36 am. Coxswain April Serrano will guide the boat that includes stroke Elizabeth Vogt, Kaitlyn Dennis, Alice McNeill, Lena Radke, Aicha Abdelaziz, Charlotte Ebel, Grace Loveridge and Mae Sweeney.

In the first head of the varsity four racing, the Orange will face first seed Stanford, eighth-seed Washington, ninth-seed Ohio State and 16th-seed Gonzaga at 11:24 am. The Orange varsity four lineup includes coxswain Chloe Van de Meulebroecke, stroke Sarah Haney, Lauren Coop, Minaya Bishop and bow Haley Uliasz.

"I have a lot of gratitude for what this team has done," McGee said. "How they have come together as a team. How they have worked. How they have built themselves into the team that they are from the end of last season to now. I am always excited to see them go down the racecourse."

The Orange are racing in their fourth consecutive NCAA Championship and their seventh in the last eight national championship regattas (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024; no championship was held in 2020 due to COVID-19). The Orange are one of three ACC schools, along with Virginia and Duke, in the 22-team field at the 2024 NCAA Championship. Head coach Luke McGee has guided the team to the NCAA Championship regatta in each of the last three seasons. The Orange finished 10th in 2021, 17th in 2022 and 13th last season.

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.

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

Watch the racing: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Follow the live results

NCAA Championship Heats Schedule
May 31, 2024
9:48 am – Varsity 8
Lane 1 – Gonzaga
Lane 2 – Brown
Lane 3 – Texas
Lane 4 -- Syracuse
Lane 5 – Duke

10:36 am – Second Varsity 8
Lane 1 – Gonzaga
Lane 2 – Syracuse
Lane 3 – Texas
Lane 4 – California
Lane 5 -- Pennsylvania

11:24 am – Varsity 4
Lane 1 – Syracuse
Lane 2 – Ohio State
Lane 3 – Stanford
Lane 4 – Washington
Lane 5 -- Gonzaga

Varsity 8
Coxswain Caileigh Grimes
Stroke Emmie Frederico
7 Ellie-Kate Hutchinson
6 Alena Criss
5 Zoe Acosta
4 Kamile Kralikaite
3 India Aikens
2 Aphrodite Gioulekas
Bow Olivia Bachert

Second Varsity 8
Coxswain April Serrano
Stroke Elizabeth Vogt
7 Kaitlyn Dennis
6 Alice McNeill
5 Lena Radke
4 Aicha Abdelaziz
3 Charlotte Ebel
2 Grace Loveridge
Bow Mae Sweeney

Varsity 4
Coxswain Chloe Van de Meulebroecke
Stroke Sarah Haney
3   Lauren Coop
2 Minaya Bishop
Bow Haley Uliasz

Spares
Maddy Gisby
Lea Dahn
Isabella DeSantis

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.

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