Syracuse women’s rowing records best-ever finish at NCAA Championships
SU placed ninth in the NCAA Championships with three boats in the A/B semifinal. Its varsity 8 finished in under six minutes in the final. Meghan Hendricks | Daily Orange File Photo
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Off the heels of a fourth-place Atlantic Coast Conference Championship finish, No. 11 Syracuse women’s rowing recorded its highest-ever NCAA Championships result, placing ninth among 22 teams this weekend in Gainesville, Georgia. The Orange tallied 80 points, 13 more than last year, and sent three boats to the A/B semifinals for the first time. That topped last season’s 12th-place finish and surpassed its previous best placement — 10th in 2021.
The varsity 8, guided by stroke seat Olivia Bachert finished second in Friday’s opening heat at 6:06.330, outlasting No. 4 Washington (6:08.992). The unit finished last in 2025’s opening heat and was relegated to the C/D semifinals. After defeating Michigan in April’s Wolverine Double Dual by nearly six seconds, the Orange did so again Friday by 9.2.
In the semifinal, SU finished fourth (6:06.405), nearly the same time as its opening heat. While the Orange missed the Grand Finals by one position, they remained within 1.3 seconds of No. 7 Yale for the final qualifying spot.
No. 2 Stanford was again SU’s biggest obstacle, sweeping all five Grand Final races at the ACC Championships. Though the Cardinal dispatched SU in the NCAA semifinal, the Orange came within six seconds, their closest varsity 8 finish against Stanford this season.
Syracuse’s varsity 8 delivered one of its fastest races in program history — placing third in 5:58.245 behind Washington (5:56.227) and No. 8 California (5:57.723). The sub-six-minute performance earned Syracuse ninth, ahead of No. 9 Brown and No. 10 Rutgers.
The second varsity 8 opened with a third-place, 6:15.414 finish in Friday’s heat to advance to the A/B semifinal, where it took fourth in 6:19.158. SU missed a Grand Final berth by one position and crossed the line just 0.196 seconds ahead of Brown. On Sunday, the 2V8 saved its strongest performance for last, edging Brown by 0.13 seconds and placing fourth in the petite final in 6:08.640.
After the varsity 4 finished third in Friday’s opening heat (6:58.478), Syracuse became one of 10 programs that advanced three boats to the A/B semifinal, where it placed fifth in 7:10.778 against top-eight programs Stanford, No. 1 Tennessee, No. 6 Virginia and Cal.
Still, the Orange competed in Sunday’s petite final, placing fifth in 7:00.526, with the varsity 4 finishing 11th nationally.
No. 3 Texas captured the 2026 NCAA Championship with 130 points, placing first in eight of nine events throughout the weekend for its fourth-ever national title. No. 2 Stanford (125) and No. 1 Tennessee (119) rounded out the podium.
Syracuse’s ninth-place finish capped Year 7 for head coach Luke McGee. After earning an at-large bid and reaching the championship regatta for the sixth consecutive year, the Orange remained in the nation’s upper echelon and are set to carry the momentum into 2027.
