GAINESVILLE, Ga.- The Tufts University women's rowing team etched itself into the record books as one of the most dominant teams in NCAA Championship history on Friday afternoon, winning its third straight NCAA Championship in action from Lake Lanier Olympic Park. The Jumbos join fellow NESCAC schools Bates and Williams as the only three schools to win three consecutive NCAA Women's Rowing titles.

For the second straight season, the Jumbos' first and second varsity eights dominated all four races they competed in at the NCAA Championships. With impending weather moving Saturday's racing to Friday, the Division III teams were forced to race twice on both the 1V8+ and 2V8+ sides on the same day. 

The truncated time table was no match for the Jumbos, who matched last year's dominant 56-point performance with the pair of victories. Over the last three seasons, Tufts 1V8+ won its third straight at the national meet, while the Jumbos' second varsity also repeated as national champs. Bates College was second with 45 points, while William Smith College earned third place with 44 points. 

The first race of the day was for the 2V8+ in the first heat of the day, as the Jumbos' boat cruised to an open water win over William Smith with a time of 6:40.139. It was over nine seconds faster than the Herons in the heat, while besting Bates by over 17 seconds. 

Three races later at 7:46 a.m., the Jumbos' top boat was in the water for its first attempt of the day. Tufts cruised to a six-second victory over William Smith in the heat, while besting Williams by over eight seconds. 

Less than eight hours later, in the 2V8+ Grand Final, the Jumbos' boat of Rosato, Wayland, Katherine Tombaugh, Zenani Himlin-Mayekiso, Celia Carson, Sam Dodds, Claire Carson, Lecia Sun, and Sonja Wartman never trailed. Tufts led by two seconds at the 500m mark, and slowly extended that lead up to four seconds by the 1500m mark. 

Williams and William Smith would charge down the stretch, and despite a late crab for the Jumbos, Tufts was able to cross the finish line with a time of 6:35.056 to earn the second varsity crown and 16 points for the Jumbos' total. 

That set up the Grand Final in the 1V8+, where Tufts was looking for its third straight championship and third under the direction of legendary coxswain Hannah Jiang. Tufts led by more than two seconds at the 500m marker and held that lead the rest of the way while crossing the line by 4.31 seconds for the win. 

The boat of Jiang, stroke Rose Tinkjian, Sami Haynes, Josie Monroe, Sydney Barr, Sonia Haynes, Aubyn Mackey, Saskia Petitt and Emma Lyle was good for 40 points to earn the second straight perfect team score for the Jumbos. For Jiang, Tinkjian, Lyle, and Sami Haynes, it was their third NCAA crown as members of the first varsity boat. Monroe and Barr became repeat winners. 

The back-to-back-to-back national championship win caps another year for Coach Lily Siddall's squad. Tufts won their third straight championships at the Head of the Charles Collegiate Eights, and took their fourth straight National Invitational Rowing Championships Points Trophy this season. 

The title marked the eighth national championship for the NESCAC this season (and the fourth for the Tufts Athletic Department), matching a conference record. It was also the 191st national championship overall in the history of the conference and 19th in women's rowing.