WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The Wesleyan women's crew team achieved their goal on the day and saw both varsity boats earn a qualification spot into their respective grand finals at the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships on Friday morning at Mercer Lake. The reigning back-to-back NCAA national runner-up Cardinals will go for glory in both the varsity 8 and 2
nd varsity 8 grand finals on Saturday.
The Cardinals coasted to qualification spots in both preliminary heats as the varsity 8 landed in second place in a four-boat prelim, finishing with a time of 6:58.576 to earn one of two automatic spots into the grand final. The Williams V8 won Heat 2 with a time of 6:47.233 and will join the Cardinals in the grand final alongside Tufts and Bates, who finished 1
st and 2
nd in Heat 1 on Friday morning. The repechage later this afternoon will determine the two remaining boats to qualify for the grand final with St. Mary's (Maryland), Wellesley, Ithaca, and Pacific Lutheran all in contention.
The 2
nd varsity 8 preliminary played out the same as the V8 as Wesleyan's boat clocked in at 7:10.134 in Heat 2, trailing Williams (7:05.301) but finishing comfortably ahead of Ithaca (7:25.514) for the second place spot and automatic qualification into the grand final. Tufts and Bates finished 1
st and 2
nd in Heat 1 in the 2V8 competition as well, with all four NESCAC boats qualifying for the grand final.
The grand finals on Saturday will see the 2V8 go off first at 10:48 AM while the V8 will commence at 11:36 AM.
Boat Lineups:
Varsity 8 –
Ava Olson '25 (coxswain),
Ruby Roberts '27,
Em Moran '26,
Alexandra Stanislaw '25,
Hailey Hutchison '27,
Cadence Cole '26,
Clara Preisig '25,
Nora Printy '26, and
Sydney Romer '28
2nd Varsity 8 –
Aria Trotta '27 (coxswain),
Julia Lissack '27,
Peyton Fern '25, Greta Armburst '25,
Annabelle Miller '25,
Sylvia Jenkins '28,
Alex Kuo '26,
Aleah Hurwitz '25, and
Kaitlin Browne '28