WORCESTER, Mass. – WPI women's rowing took first place in the Varsity Eight and 2nd Varsity Eight Races to claim the 2019 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship on Saturday morning at the Donahue Rowing Center on Lake Quinsigamond.
This is the first conference title for WPI women's rowing program – which is ranked 3rd in the nation - as they earned the NEWMAC's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division III Championship in Indianapolis.
Wellesley College – which is sixth nationally - took first place in the 3rd Varsity Eight race and 4th Varsity Eight race to claim the Florence Cup. This was the Blue's eighth consecutive year and ninth year overall claiming the Florence Cup.
The Engineers led the way in total points with 49 and were followed by Wellesley in second with 44 points. Fifth-ranked Smith College was third with 39 points, followed by 15th-ranked Mount Holyoke in fourth with 30 points, Clark in fifth with 29 points, Simmons in sixth with 22 points and Coast Guard in seventh with eight points.
WPI also swept the major awards with Kinsey McNamara being named 2019 NEWMAC Rower of the Year and Madison Healey tabbed as the 2019 Coxswain of the Year.
Joining the WPI duo on the NEWMAC All-Conference first team were teammates, Christine Hovermale, Eva Barinello as well as Katie Livington, Frances Dingivan and Rhiannon Mulligan of Wellesley and Rachael Clendenning and Clara Slesar of Smith.
The NEWMAC All-Conference second team was made up of Simmons' Emily Niemi and Samantha Kelsey, Mount Holyoke juniors Elizabeth Hazen and Hannah LeBlanc, Clark's Halley Glier (Shelburne, Mass.) and Ella Scott (Hope, Maine), and Cali Nathanson from Smith.
The Engineers captured the varsity eight in a time of 6:52.04 with the Blue crossing the line in a time of 6:55.58. Smith took third (7:01.83), followed by Mount Holyoke (7:14.14), Clark (7:22.44) and Simmons (7:25.88).
In the varsity eight for the Lyons was senior coxswain Zoe Zelkowitz (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale), first year Simran Kaur (Hanover, N.H./Hanover), LeBlanc (Portland, Ore./Sunset), first year Jocelyn Greer (Glen Rock, N.J./Academy for Business & Finance), Hazen (Brookline, Mass./Brookline), sophomore Casey Roepke (Burlingame, Calif./Crystal Springs Uplands School), first year Xena Ault (Forest Park, Ill./Trinity), junior Lainie LaRonde (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) and first year Audrey Shannon (Milton, Ga./Cambridge).
It was a tight race in the second varsity eight, as WPI handed in a time of 7:13.28 compared to Wellesley's 7:13.41. Smith reached the finish line in a time of 7:26.64. Coast Guard took fourth in a time of 7:44/76 followed by Clark (7:53.26), Mount Holyoke (7:58.47), and Simmons (8:04.87).
Mount Holyoke's second varsity eight boat featured first year coxswain Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson (Berkeley, Calif./Berkeley), first year Elle Bukosky (Trenton, N.J./Doane Academy), first year Sarah Lancaster (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), sophomore Molly Aslin (Germantown, Tenn./St. Mary's Episcopal School), junior Halee Mahoney (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), sophomore Kate Dutilly (Moneta, Va./Community HS of Arts & Academics), senior Sharlow Hitchcock (Methuen, Mass./Methuen), first year Shoshi Daniels (Rye, N.Y./Rye) and first year Katherine Dailey (Camden, Maine/Camden Hills Regional).
Wellesley then took the third varsity eight in a time of 7:35.99 followed by Smith who claimed a 7:44.10 finish. WPI ended up third in 8:05.35 followed by Simmons in 8:31.15. The Blue used a 7:47.17 time to take the head-to-head fourth varsity eight with WPI.
FLORENCE JOPE SMITH CUP CHAMPION -Wellesley
The Florence Smith Cup is awarded to the school with the highest number of points from today's overall results. Scoring is calculated using a point system on the fact that there are a total of seven schools in today's competition (Point totals: Seven-boat races: 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2; Six-boat races: 12, 10, 8, 6 4, 2; Five-boat races: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2; Four-boat races: 8,6,4,2; Three-boat races: 6,4,2, Two-boat races 4,2)
Points
Wellesley = 34 points
WPI = 32 points
Smith = 24 points
Mount Holyoke = 10 points
Clark= 10 points
Coast Guard = 8 points
Simmons = 6 points
