Racing on a day that saw the two DII championship finals start exactly 10 hours apart, the Eight at 8:56am and the Four at 6:56pm, Embry-Riddle combined a win in the Eight with a third place finish in the Four to capture the program's first-ever NCAA DII title.
The Embry-Riddle 1V Eight timed their sprint perfectly; pacing the leaders from Western Washington through the 1500m mark, the Eagles took a ferocious move in the last quarter to take the win over WWU by less than a second.
"One word describes this win: buy-in," said Embry-Riddle head coach Grant Maddock. "We came into this season knowing we could win a national championship, but it would take the entire team."
In the four, the Embry-Riddle crew gamely set the pace early, then fell behind eventual winners Humboldt and second place Central Oklahoma while holding off Western Washington to claim important points to seal the win.
"We welcomed a group of 12 freshman women that helped push the standard this past fall," added Maddock. "The girls have slowly been taking on an increased volume over the last 24 months that generally puts us in stronger positions as we raced more. Having to go through the rep honestly helped us sort some things out."
Embry-Riddle's previous best finish at the NCAAs prior to today had been 3rd place, in 2022.
NOTES FROM THE COURSE
The huge gap in racing today between the cancellation of the morning racing and the resumption of rowing in the evening, had the positive effect of allowing all the DII eights athletes to watch the deciding fours final from shore and cheer on their teammates.
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- The Crew Classic
- CrewLAB
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- Durham Boat Co.
- Empacher
- Faster Masters
- Fit Foreman Trains
- Fluidesign
- h2row.net
- HUDSON
- Nielsen-Kellerman
- Peinert Boat Works
- Pocock Racing Shells
- Robbie Consulting
- Rockland Rowing Masters Regatta
- RowKraft
- Rubini Jewelers
- smartOar
- St. Margaret's School
- Vespoli USA