The Wesleyan women’s rowing team capped off last spring’s outstanding season with a second-place finish at the NCAA Division III Championship, earning the Cards their second national runner-up title in two years.

When The Argus last caught up with the Cardinals, they had just been crowned the Little Three champions, following their victory over Williams on Saturday, April 20. After two weeks off from competition, the Cards returned to the water to begin the most critical stretch of their season—the road to the NCAA Championship.

On Saturday, May 4, the Cardinals competed in the New England Championship at Lake Quinsigamond where the V8 boat placed third out of 20 boats with a time of 6:57.65, behind Tufts (6:56.69) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (6:53.06), whose team competes at the NCAA DI level. The Cardinals’ third-place rank was the highest for the V8 at the New England Championship since 2018, and a major improvement from the previous year’s ninth-place finish.

Alex Stanislaw ’25 applauded the V8’s improved performance at this regatta.

“We’ve never historically done that well at [the New England Championship] so getting third was huge,” Stanislaw said. “We were so excited just to be on the medal dock. We executed a great race plan to be as competitive as possible. We felt really controlled, and that was exciting going into [the National Invitational Rowing Championships].”  

The following weekend, the Cardinals showed out once again as the V8 placed third in the grand final with a time of 6:55.527, just behind Trinity (6:55.249) and Tufts (6:52.089). It was the program’s best NIRC finish since 2000, when Wesleyan’s V8 was runner-up. Additionally, the second V8 (2V8) and the open four boats earned bronze medals at the regatta, cementing an all-around outstanding day for the team. 

But even given the team’s strong performance, Shayna McCarthy ’24 knew the Cardinals had not reached their ceiling.

“It was really exciting, but I think that everyone expected that we could do more,” McCarthy said. “So it was both a combination of being proud and a little bit of disappointment because we really wanted to be the best because we felt like we had that in us.”

The Cards’ third-place finish meant they had missed the chance to qualify automatically for the NCAA Championship. But a few days after their performance at the NIRC regatta, the team gathered at Pat Tynan’s house to watch as the NCAA selection committee granted Wesleyan an at-large national tournament bid. 

McCarthy spoke on what an at-large bid meant to the Cards.

“When we got off the water at NIRC, we had maybe speculated that there was a good chance that we were going, but you never know,” McCarthy said. “And so when we got the bid, we were really excited [to get] another shot to just get to race together and show what we’ve been building on for the past couple years.”

As finals week wrapped up in May, the Red and Black doubled down on training for the NCAAs.

To kick off the NCAA finals weekend in Bethel, Ohio, the Cards’ V8 and 2V8 boats competed in preliminary heats on the morning of Friday, May 31. The V8 came in first in their heat with a time of 7:08.83. The 2V8 notched second place in their heat with a time of 7:34.91, after Tufts (7.22.20).

Both boats automatically qualified for the Saturday finals, avoiding an additional heat on Friday afternoon. It was the first time in school history that the Cardinals’ V8 and 2V8 both qualified for the NCAA finals straight from Friday morning heats.

Before the races on Saturday, Tynan reminded his crews to trust themselves.

“I told them that they’ve taken more rowing strokes in their lives than they have gotten the mail from their mailbox,” Tynan said. “So take some comfort in that.”

It was a close race for Wesleyan’s V8, as Tufts jumped in front early, recording a 1000-meter split of 3:22.85 to Wesleyan’s 3:26.17. Ultimately, the Red and Black finished only 3.17 seconds behind Tufts, notching a time of 6:54.33 and narrowly fending off Trinity, who came in third with a time of 6:55.98. 

The Cards’ 2V8 pulled off a similarly close fourth-place finish, ending the race just 1.7 seconds out of a bronze medal. They racked up a time of 7:06.96, behind Trinity (7:05.25), Tufts (6:58.13), and first-place Williams (6:56.23). 

The V8 and 2V8’s performances combined to give Wesleyan second place overall, behind Tufts, who won their first-ever NCAA DIII Championship title.

Following the finals, three members of the Wesleyan V8 were named to All-NESCAC teams for the 2023–2024 season. McCarthy and Stanislaw made First Team All-NESCAC, while Anna Merrifield ’24 was named to the second team.

McCarthy and Merrifield also received Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) First Team All-American honors.

The run of individual awards was capped off by the CRCA naming McCarthy as their DIII National Athlete of the Year.

“To get the Athlete of the Year Award was kind of just mind-blowing and unexpected,” McCarthy said of her reaction to the honor. “I really felt like I had so many people that helped me get to that point, and a lot of hard work that a lot of people might not have seen.”

Now, on the heels of their NCAA runner-up title, the Cards are beginning to settle in for their fall season, according to Tynan.

“We’re at the bottom of the mountain again,” he said. “It’s a different mountain, different kids on the team.”

Although their fall season consists of only three competitions, the Cardinals will not be taking those competitions lightly as they begin to build momentum for their year. Their first competition will be the Riverfront Regatta on Sunday, Oct. 1. 

“In the fall, we don’t want to downplay those races and skip right over them to the spring,” Stanislaw said. “Each season that we’re in is important and it plays a role. So we want to really focus on being intentional with the training now to set us up well for the future.”

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.

Audrey Nelson can be reached at aanelson@wesleyan.edu.