BETHEL, Ohio -- The Gonzaga women's rowing team finished 17th overall at the NCAA Championships and 37 points after every boat advanced to the C Finals for the first time in program history.
"I feel incredibly thankful for this season and these athletes. This is a wonderful, highly competitive team that has been really fun to work with and watch achieve great things this year," head coach
Andrew Derrick said. "The outgoing seniors are true selfless leaders that showed the rest of us that we could do more than in years past. They led wonderfully all year and are no doubt the catalyst that allowed us to have the success we had throughout the season. I am really, really going to miss them, but they join some other great alumni and we have an amazing squad coming back next year that can continue the upward trend of our program!"
In the first race of the day, the 1V4 boat finished fourth in the C final with a time of 7:26.368, ahead of Indiana and Boston. The crew finished 16th overall, which ties the best finish in program history with the 1V4 boat from the 2013 season.
"Overall we were pretty happy with our team's performance today," senior
Mollie Monson said. "To finish at your seed is always the goal and to have all three boats do that was a huge win. In the four, being able to get ahead of Indiana who got an at large bid is what we came here to do, to prove that we're not just here because we won our conference. I think as a whole, our team took another step in that direction which is really exciting. To finish with the success we had today, will allow for them to build off of that as they start looking towards next year which I'm really excited to watch."
The 2V8 boat raced next and placed fifth in the heat with a time of 6:51.444, ahead of Boston by over four seconds. The boat took 17th overall, the best finish since the 2016 season.
Rounding out the races was the 1V8 crew that finished fifth in the finals heat in 6:36.761, ahead of Northeastern by over two seconds. The boat also placed 17th overall, the best performance since 2018.
Overall, Gonzaga's place finish is the best finish since 2016 when the Zags took 16th. The team recorded 37 points total, which is tied for second-best of all time.
NCAA Championships
HARSHA LAKE AT EAST FORK STATE PARK | BETHEL, OH
May 31 | Final Results
June 1 | Final Results
June 2 | Final Results
ABOUT THE REGATTA
- Gonzaga is heading back to the NCAA Championships for the ninth-straight year and 10th time in program history after their ninth-straight West Coast Conference Championship on May 18.
- The 2024 NCAA Championships will take place at Harsha Lake at East Fork Park in Bethel, Ohio. The event is hosted by Marietta College, Discover Clermont and Visit Cincy.
- The Zags are one of 22 teams in the field. Eleven conferences were awarded automatic qualification and the remaining 11 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the championship field.
- Gonzaga's varsity eight boat is seeded No. 17 while the 2V8 crew is No. 17. The 1V4 boat is also seeded No. 16. The first heat of races began on Friday, May 31 at 6:48 a.m. Pacific Time.
EVENT HISTORY
- Last season, the Bulldogs placed 19th as a team. The 1V8 boat finished the season by winning their heat in the D Finals. Going against Navy, George Washington and Jacksonville, the Bulldogs came out on top with a finishing time of 6:42.849, edging Navy by less than a second to finish 19th overall. Gonzaga won their heat in the 2V8 race as well in the D Finals with a time of 7:06.387. The Zags competed against Northeastern, Jacksonville and Navy to win the race by four seconds and place 19th. The 1V4 crew was the only boat to compete in the C Finals and finished fifth with a time of 8:01.297. GU went against Indiana, Penn, Rutgers, Southern California and Syracuse to take 18th overall.
- In 2021, Gonzaga finished 20th overall. That year, the varsity eight took first in the D Final to finish 19th overall, while the second varsity eight finished fourth in the D Final (22nd overall). The varsity four claimed sixth in the C Final to finish 18th overall.
- The Zags recorded their best finish in program history in 2016 at the NCAA Championships on Lake Natoma, finishing 16th overall with 45 points. The varsity eight had their best finish at the event, taking second in the C Final to finish 14th overall. The second varsity eight also had their best finish in NCAA Championships history, taking 16th after finishing fourth in the C Final. The varsity four took 19th after taking first in the D Final.
- The Zags had set a then-program record with a 17th place overall finish at the NCAA Championships in 2015 with 37 points. The varsity eight finished 15th and the second varsity eight took 19th, both records at the time.
- The varsity four's best finish came in 2013, their first appearance, when they took 16th overall and fourth in the C Final. The Zags finished 19th overall that season with the varsity eight and second varsity eight taking 19th.
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