WORCESTER -- Wellesley swept all four races to capture its sixth consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEMWAC) Women's Rowing Championship on Saturday morning on Lake Quinsigamond. With the win, the Blue secures the conference's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Rowing Championships.

Wellesley also claimed the Florence Jope Smith Cup, awarded to the school with the highest number of points from the overall results. The Blue finished with a total of 40 points to better host WPI (28), Simmons (24), Smith (16), Coast Guard and Mount Holyoke (each with 10) and Clark (2).

Wellesley's Varsity Eight (V8) reached the finish line in a time of (6:37.62) to defeat second place WPI (6:44.85) by 7.23 seconds in the final race of the day.  Simmons earned bronze (6:54.50), followed by fourth-place Coast Guard (6:58.85), fifth-place Mount Holyoke (6:59.09), sixth place Smith (7:00.64) and seventh-place Clark (7:04.78).  

The V8 victory sealed the conference championship for the Blue after Wellesley's Second Varsity Eight (2V8) turned in a mark of 6:50.11 to give the Blue the top time in both the V8 and 2V8 events. WPI (7:01.79) and Simmons (7:10.74) also finished in second and third in the 2V8 field, followed by Smith (7:11.80) and Mount Holyoke (7:20.03) and Coast Guard (7:24.14).

Wellesley grabbed the title in the Third Varsity Eight (3V8) race, finishing ahead of the Pioneers with a time of 7:04.90. Smith was second at 7:09.83, while WPI (7:19.23) took third. Wellesley's Novice Eight (N8) also opened the day with a victory, topping Simmons (7:33.42), WPI (7:36.46) and Smith (8:16.01) with a time of 7:06.89.

Wellesley swept the major awards as senior Megan Roberts (Kenilworth, IL) was named Rower of the Year and sophomore Stephanie Kim (Wellesley, MA) was tabbed Coxswain of the Year.  The blue duo was joined on the first team by teammates Lauren Bazley (Issaquah, WA) and Grace Howland (Millbrook, NY),

Gina Gonzalez-Roundy (Berkeley, CA), Kinsey McNamara (Chelmsford, MA) and Abigail Sawyer (Uxbridge, MA) of WPI and Veronica Bennett (Pottstown, PA) and Chelsea Foster (Avon, CT).

The second team was comprised of Tara Strauss (Sarasota, FL) and Savannah Lyle (Nashville, TN) of Coast Guard, Molly La Pointe (Kennebunk, ME) and 

Meghan Ryan (West Point, NY) of Mount Holyoke, Olivia Shaw (Wayland, MA) and Gracie Hackenberg (Portland, OR) of Smith and Lydia Warters (Simsbury, CT) and Sarah Fisher (Teaneck, NJ) of Clark.  Simmons sophomore coxswain Clarice Johnson (Norwell, MA).

The Lyons lineup for each of today's races were as follows:

Varsity Eight: junior Leela Woody (C), junior Molly Lapointe (S), first year Eleanor Stewart (7), senior Rosalind Waltz-Peters (6), sophomore Ariya Lawson (5), junior Azulina Green (4), sophomore Elisabeth Scheemaker (3), junior Zandra Davis (2) and junior Meghan Ryan (B).

Second Varsity Eight: sophomore Kimberly Ho (C), sophomore Nicole Villacres (S), first year Julia Hecking (7), first year Sharlow Hitchcock (6), senior Claire Fahrner (5), first year Clare Zicari (4), junior Mira Kelly-Fair (3), first year Violet Gehr (2) and sophomore Rumi Handen (B).

Mount Holyoke returns to action next Saturday when it competes in the New England Championships, once again hosted on Lake Quinsigamond.

Release courtesy of WPI Sports Information Office. Photo courtesy of Chenyue Lu '16, MHC Rowing.