HADLEY, Mass. – The NESCAC Men’s & Women’s Rowing Championships are set for Sunday, May 11 at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. The NESCAC Championship is part of the National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC).
The men’s champion will be the team with the fastest 1V8 at the National Invitational Rowing Championships (NIRC). The runner-up will be the team with the second-fastest 1V8 at the NIRC. In the event of a tie for the championship, the team with the fastest 2V8 at the NIRC will be the champion. The same tiebreaking procedure will be used to determine the runner-up in the event of a tie for second place.
The women’s champion will be the team with the highest combined point total of the 1V8 and 2V8 at the National Invitational Rowing Championships (NIRC), using the NCAA point scoring system (available on the Rowing Championship Central page link). The runner-up will be the team with the second-highest combined point total. In the event of a tie for the championship, the team with the fastest V8 at the NIRC will be the champion. The same tiebreaking procedure will be used to determine the runner-up in the event of a tie for second place.
2024 NESCAC Championship Recap
At the 2024 NESCAC Rowing Championships, the Wesleyan Cardinals won the men's varsity 8 boat bested the runner-up Williams by just over a second to win the grand final and capture the team's first NESCAC title. The first-place finish for the varsity 8 signaled the first time in the 56-year history of Wesleyan men's crew that the Cardinals placed first in a national invitational race. The Cardinals previously placed second at the 2023 IRA D3 National Championship and were runner-up in 1987 at the Dad Vail Regatta, the collegiate men's crew national invitational equivalent from the 1960s through the early 1990s.
The Tufts University women's rowing first varsity eight won the program's first-ever NESCAC Championship by finishing first in the grand final at the 2024 National Invitational Rowing Championships. The NIRC 1V8 grand final also served as the NESCAC Championship, and the race featured six of the top 10 teams in the Division III national poll. The Jumbos proved their excellence by winning the race in a time of 6:52.089. Tufts was three seconds ahead of second-place and No. 3 ranked Trinity College (6:55.249), No. 2 ranked Wesleyan in third (6:55.527) and No. 4 ranked Williams was fifth (6:55.735). All three boats were within a half-second of each other. The victory also marked the first-ever NIRC first varsity win for the Jumbos. Tufts cruised to a 7:06.403 win in the morning heat, in front of second-place Wellesley (7:09.165), to get into the grand final.
Championship History
Four programs have won the NESCAC Men's Rowing title. Williams leads the way with 11 titles, its last coming in 2023. Bates and Trinity have won four each. The Bobcats' last title was in 2019, while the Bantams last won the NESCAC crown in 2008, ending a string of four-straight titles. Wesleyan is the defending champion after winning its first championship in program history in 2024.
Five women's teams have won a NESCAC Championship. The Ephs own the most with 11 crowns (last: 2023) while Bates has captured the title seven times (last: 2022). Trinity won back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005. Colby claimed its NESCAC title in 2003 and Tufts is the defending champion after capturing the program's first title last season.
