MALDEN, Mass. – In what had all the makings of a NCAA Championship preview, the No. 1 ranked Wesleyan women's crew team finished in second place in both the varsity 8 and 2^nd varsity 8 grand finals on Saturday from the Malden River.

• RESULTS

Racing against No. 2 Tufts, No. 4 Bates, and No. 5 Wellesley, the top-ranked Cardinals faced the ultimate test on Saturday with four of the top five ranked crews gathered to race one another on a chilly spring day.
 
Wesleyan opened the day with wins in the varsity 8 preliminary race against Wellesley, as the Cardinals captured a win with a time of 6:45.52, finishing more than seven seconds ahead of Wellesley's 6:52.65. The Cardinals captured another win over Wellesley in the 2V8, crossing the line in 7:08.74, with the Pride coming in at 7:15.23. Wesleyan's 3V8 landed behind Wellesley with a time of 7:40.55, compared to 7:37.67 for the Pride.
 
Later in the day, Wesleyan met Tufts in the grand finale of both the V8 and 2V8. The Jumbos set the tone with a win in the V8 as Tufts finished in 6:48.33 compared to 6:53.53 for the Cardinals. Tufts captured another win in the 2V8 grand final, finishing with a time of 7:01.74, while Wesleyan finished in 7:11.29.
 
The 3V8 rebounded with a win in the petite final, defeating Bates with a time of 7:31.99 compared to 7:36.71 for the Bobcats.
 
Wesleyan also had a V4 in action on the day as the Cardinals finished with a time of 8:44.79, finishing behind Coast Guard who clocked in at 8:32.24.
 
The Cardinals continue a challenging spring schedule with a race against Williams next Saturday.
 
Featuring in the four boats for Wesleyan included:

Varsity 8 – Ava Olson'25 (coxswain), Alex Stanislaw '25, Shayna McCarthy '24, Cadence Cole '26, Anna Merrifield '24, Ruby Roberts '27, Em Moran '26, Nora Printy '26, and Alex Kuo '26
2^nd Varsity 8 – Noa Pesner '24 (coxswain), Elsa Lawrence '27, Shelagh Coombs '24, Anne Horton '24, Elise McCamant '24, Greta Armbrust '25, Peyton Fern '25, Hailey Hutchison '27, and Sophia Braver '27
3^rd Varsity 8 – Aria Trotta '27 (coxswain), Julia Lissack '27, Emilia Byrne '24, Helen Gies '26, Annabelle Miller '25, Anna Sewell '27, Rebecca Schechter '26, Victoria Pereira '27, and Meg Bigelow '24
4^th Varsity 4 – Gabby Ager '27 (coxswain), Dana Hennings '27, Grace Donfield '26, Marin Theis '27, and Stella Tollis '27