Women’s rowing earns first bid to NCAA Championships
LEWISTON, Maine — Bates College has earned its first bid to the NCAA Division III Women’s Rowing Championships, the NCAA announced on Tuesday.
Bates, ranked No. 5 in the most recent College Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing Division III poll, will send two varsity eights to compete with crews from seven other Division III schools — Ithaca, Puget Sound, Trinity (Conn.), William Smith, Coast Guard, Mary Washington and defending champion Williams. The championships will be held May 25-26 at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. (Races at the NCAA Championships will be webcast live at http://all-access.cstv.com/cstv/player/player.html?code=ncaa.)
Bates’ first varsity eight boat has first-year Rachel Tofel (Bronx, N.Y.) at coxswain, senior Gabby Voeller (Littleton, Colo.) in the stroke seat and first-year Alexia Zhang (Berlin, Conn.) in the bow seat. Seats 2 through 7 are, in order, sophomore Caitlin Murphy (Duxbury, Mass.), sophomore Laura Hubbell (Yarmouth, Maine), junior Laura Director (Wilmington, Del.), sophomore Nicole Ritchie (East Dummerston, Vt.), senior Jaclyn Olson (Norfolk, Mass.) and senior Jeanethe Falvey (Phippsburg, Maine).
Bates’ second varsity eight boat has sophomore Charlotte Coulter (Branford, Conn.) at coxswain, sophomore Emily Chandler (North Yarmouth, Maine) in the stroke seat and junior Kara Constantine (Beverly, Mass.) in the bow seat. Seats 2 through 7 are, in order, junior Kate Harmsworth-Morrissey (Brookline, Mass.), junior Catherine Cluett (Sanbornton, N.H.), sophomore Brianna Belanger (Millbridge, Maine), junior Emily Howieson (Holliston, Mass.), first-year Josie Cutts (Kittery Point, Maine) and senior Sarah Ewing (Washington, Conn.). Bates’ alternates at nationals will be first-year Danica Doroski (Wayne, Pa.), first-year Chelsea Thibodeau (Duluth, Minn.) and first-year coxswain Lindsay Thomson (West Hartford, Conn.).