Women’s rowing receives sixth straight bid to NCAAs
The Bates women's varsity eight is set to vie for its first NCAA crown for the sixth consecutive year, May 24-26 in West Windsor, N.J.. (File photo courtesy of Mason Cox '07)
INDIANAPOLIS — The Bates College women’s rowing team received its sixth consecutive bid to the NCAA Division III Women’s Rowing Championships, the NCAA announced on Monday, as the Division III Women’s Rowing Committee selected the eight-team field.
The championships will be held May 25-27 at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J., with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Rider serving as hosts.
The championships are comprised of six teams and each team is required to field two boats of eight rowers and a coxswain. Two at-large Eights also are selected. The following are the berths that are allocated: Pool A – one (Pool A consists of the conference that has been awarded automatic qualification); Pool B/C – five (Pools B and C include independents, institutions from conferences that do not meet automatic-qualification standards and Pool A institutions that did not receive their conference’s automatic qualification. Due to the fact that Pool A only has one automatic-qualifying conference, Pools B and C have been collapsed).
Bates received its first bid to the NCAA Championships in 2007, finishing third overall. The Bobcats returned and placed fifth in 2008. In 2009 at Cooper River, N.J., the team placed second overall, the top finish ever for any Bates team at an NCAA Championship. The Bobcats repeated as national runners-up at both the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Championships, both at Gold River, Calif.
Bates is headed by senior captains Allison DiSalvo (Lowell, Mass.) and Haley Sive (Glenville, N.Y.), as well as senior varsity eight crew members Kelsey Dion (Truckee, Calif.) and Elizabeth Sonshine (Short Hills, N.J.). DiSalvo, Sive and Sonshine are all past All-NESCAC honorees. Also on Bates’ first eight are Mallory Ward ’15 (Pittsford, N.Y.), Hope King ’14 (Greenwich, Conn.), Alexandra Hill ’14 (Wayland, Mass.), Heather Monty ’14 (Bedford, N.H.), and coxswain Gabriella Bilotta ’14 (Washington, D.C.).
Bates’ W2V8 lineup at last weekend’s National Invitational Rowing Championships, the team’s most successful ever, included Jenna Armstrong ’15 (Florham Park, N.J.) (bow); Elizabeth Sangree ’15 (Ashford, Conn.); Lauren Hadiaris ’13 (Cape Elizabeth, Maine); Rachel Ellis ’14 (Snohomish, Wash.); Amy Jacks ’12 (Baltimore, Md.); Sarah Murphy ’14 (Wellesley, Mass.); Eliza Barkan ’15 (Seattle, Wash.); Aisling Ryan ’14 (Millis, Mass.) (stroke); and Molly Huffaker ’14 (Ithaca, N.Y.) (cox). Also making the trip as alternates are coxswain Maggie Carey ’14 (Lincoln, Mass.), Taylor Kniffin ’14 (Stamford, Conn.) and Caroline Webb ’12 (Tiburon, Calif.).
NCAA Division III Women’s Rowing Championships information and results
TEAMS:
Pool A
*Williams
*Automatic qualifier
Pool B/C
Bates
Ithaca
Trinity (Conn.)
Wellesley
William Smith
At-Large I Eights
Marietta
Puget Sound
In 2011, Williams edged Bates for the third straight year to capture its fifth consecutive Division III Women’s Rowing Championship team title.