Year in Review: Women's Rowing

STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford women's rowing capped a memorable year with a highly-successful campaign on the water, finishing second at the NCAA Championships and the Pac-12 Championships.

Race to the Finish
The 2021 NCAA Championships were forced to be decided in a tiebreaker, as Stanford joined Texas and Washington at the top of the table with 126 points. Texas earned the national title by virtue of winning the varsity eight, while Stanford edged Washington in the varsity eight to take second overall.

The second-place team finish is the best for Stanford since also finishing second in 2011. The varsity eight last took second in 2017 while the varsity four has crossed the line in second in each of the last two championship regattas. The second varsity, which also claimed the silver, posted its best finish since winning the race in 2011.

Varsity Four Wins at Pac-12s
The varsity four earned its first Pac-12 title since 2014, and Stanford women's rowing took second overall at the Pac-12 Championships, held May 16 at Lake Natoma. The varsity four posted a wire-to-wire victory, earning just the second conference triumph in program history in the category. The Cardinal doubled its advantage over the final 500 meters to win by 12 seconds over Washington.

The varsity eight finished second for the sixth year in a row, while the second and third varsity eights each posted second-place results of their own.

Many Medals for McGinley
Grace McGinley, who was part of the varsity four-winning boat at Pac-12s and the runner-up varsity eight at NCAAs, received national recognition for her work in the classroom. First, the Westport, Connecticut native was hailed as the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, where she became the fifth rower in program history to earn the honor. Next, she earned the NCAA's Elite 90 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships.

McGinley is triple majoring at Stanford in Comparative Literature, Classics and Film and Media Studies.

National Recognition
Five Stanford women's rowers have been named 2021 Pocock All-America Athletes, as announced by the College Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA). Rowers Esther Briz Zamorano, Kaitlyn Kynast, Kelsey McGinley, Meg Saunders and coxswain Nicole Pofcher all claimed first-team honors.

Successful off the water as well, 18 women's rowers were named CRCA National Scholar-Athletes.

Tokyo Bound
Three alumnae will represent their country in Tokyo at the Olympics this summer. Grace Luczak (four) and Alie Rusher (quadruple sculls) will compete for the United States, while Stephanie Grauer (four) will suit up for Canada.