Women's Rowing Excited for 2023 Season, Open on Saturday

MEDFORD, MA (March 30, 2023) - Tufts Women's Rowing heads into the spring championship racing season with its strongest, deepest team in years.

Coming off a sixth-place finish at last year's NCAA Championship, Tufts Rowing welcomed an outstanding group of first-year students to a seasoned veteran core, and the new chemistry produced Tufts' strongest fall results ever, with notable highlights being a third-place finish in the collegiate eight event at the Head of the Charles, and a win in the freshman eight event at the Head of the Fish over D1 schools such as Cornell and Syracuse.

Eight of the nine individuals who started for the first varsity eight at the NCAA race last spring are back this year, including graduate students Karen Dooley and Samantha Lazar, seniors Meagan Matt and Lauren Pollock (coxswain), juniors Grace Hamilton and Summer Maxwell and sophomores Sophia Brackett and Reilly Uiterwyk. Also back from the NCAA second varsity boat are grad student Amanda Downing, senior Eden Simko, juniors Elizabeth Buehl (coxswain) and Emma Mahoney and sophomores Natalie Graham and Lucy Howell. In addition to these individuals, juniors Margot Durfee and Shira Roberts were regulars on the top two boats during the 2021-22 season. Dooley, Durfee, Lazar and Pollock made the NESCAC All-Conference team a year ago.

The Jumbos have several other experienced rowers who made a contribution to last year's success. Juniors Georgia Butler and Aoife Schmitt and sophomores Isabelle Berman, Alicia Coble, Molly Heeney and Cecelia Wilson were part of the third varsity who had Tufts' top finish at the National Invitational Rowing Championships (NIRC) with a second in the grand final. Current junior Alexandra Timoney was part of Jumbo third varsity that took bronze at the 2022 New England Rowing Championships (NERC).

Approximately a dozen first-year rowers are expected to make key contributions in 2023. Julia Zipoli, Hadley Keefe, Emma Lyle and Samara Haynes were among the eight who rowed third at the Head of the Charles. The Tufts freshman eight that won in Saratoga include those three, was coxed by Hannah Jiang, and included Ashley Brzezenski, Sophie Cumming, Lecia Sun and Rose Tinkjian. Others will be in the four boats that Tufts will race in their season-opener versus Smith Saturday on Malden River.

"The success of any D3 spring season relies on the training the athletes do on their own through the long winter, and as we started our season it is clear our group did the work," said Noel Wanner, Director of Rowing at Tufts and the women's head coach. "They are fit and ready to go fast.  The energy and effort of the group is a pleasure at practice each day, and that's all we can control."

Following Saturday, home races against Trinity and Coast Guard on April 8 and versus Bates, Wellesley and Wesleyan on April 15 precede the annual Brown Cup at WPI on April 23. A date at Williams College on April 29 leads into the championship season (NERC May 6, NIRA May 12). Tufts has hopes to earn its fifth NCAA invitation later in May.

"Our race schedule includes all of the fastest D3 crews in the country," Wanner said, "So it is certainly a challenge, but we are excited to see where our speed will take us."