No. 13 Miami Concludes Season With 13th Place Finish at NCAA Championships

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The 13^th-ranked Hurricanes rowing team concluded its historic season with a 13^th-place finish at the 2026 NCAA Division I Championships, which were held Sunday at the Lake Lanier Olympic Park.

Miami’s first varsity eight crew of Scarlett Pringle, Naroa Zubimendi Varela, Jovana Stanivuk, Samantha Premerl, Mallory Sullivan, Esther Fuerte Chacón, Candela Martínez Pernas, Maria Sole Perugino and Beatrice Ravini Perelli capped the season with another record-breaking performance on the water, crossing the finish line of the Petite C Final with a time of 6:02.54.

That was good enough to finish ahead of No. 20 Oregon State and Northeastern and earn a fourth-place finish. It also set a new Miami 1V8 record, besting the mark of 6:09.93 the crew set during Friday’s qualifying heats on Lake Lanier.

Both Miami’s second varsity eight and first varsity four competed in the championship regatta’s Petite Finals.

The 2V8 crew of Anna Langemann, Paula Espinosa Linares, Felipa Rosas Villalobos, Sara Caterisano, Agostina Manzotti Scolari, Kylie Evenson, Jane Elsner, Camila Cofré Lopez and Gabriela Snopková posted a time of 6:17.11 to finish in sixth place, while the 1V4 crew of Maria Mastrando, Nicole Wyszynski, Holly Prichard, Grace Gaskill and Layla Jolley also finished in sixth place with a time of 7:07.99.

“I know it’s an outdoor sport, so conditions play a role and you can’t control if a course is going to be fast or not, but we had the right mixture of wind and water and fast teams here. This ended up being the fastest-ever, not just NCAAs, but the fastest women’s rowing regatta in history,” Miami coach James Mulcahy said. “I think five crews went under the current world best time. That was incredible.

“And for our teams, they all raced as well as they could. I thought the 1V8, ultimately, will look back and be pleased with the effort they put forth today. To go 6:02 is not slow. … It’s not the placement they wanted, I know, but that was a heck of an effort they put in there and they’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. …

“The 2V8 and the 1V4, they outperformed to make the A/B semis, and they hung tough in there in the B Finals and showed they belonged in the top half of the field, which was great. For us to finish 13^th in our debut is a really strong result. We finished ahead of other at-large teams. We finished ahead of other conference champions. We had a good showing.”

Sunday’s races marked the end of a historic season for Miami rowing.

The Hurricanes made the program’s first appearance at the NCAA Championships this year and also achieved multiple new program highs in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Top 25. The Hurricanes notched wins over a series of ranked opponents and broke multiple records across all five of their boats which competed throughout the regular season.

“For them to have the opportunity to be racing on the last day of the season, that’s one of the hardest things you can earn in this sport. So, it’s a feather in their cap that they got to do that and I’m very happy that they got this experience. Your first NCAAs is a lot of learning, but you also want to perform. I thought they did a great job of doing both those things. We learned a whole lot, but we also showed off some very strong performances.”

The NCAA Championships marked not only the end of the season for the Hurricanes, but the final collegiate regatta for Miami’s 10 seniors, a group which helped turn the program around and brought it to this historic moment.

That, Mulcahy said, can’t be taken for granted.

“They’ve given their everything for Miami Rowing. To transform this program into what it is today, step-by-step over four years, it’s a herculean effort that they put forth, and I can’t say enough good things about our seniors, those that are here [today] and those that aren’t here,” Mulcahy said. “They’ve contributed so much of themselves over the last four years in the classroom, doing community service, and then of course on the water. They transformed the identity of this program. They turned us into a nationally ranked team and a force to be reckoned with in the world of collegiate rowing. What they did is an incredible athletic achievement.”

Added Zubimendi Varela, “I think we showed that we are capable of being here among the top teams in the country. … Clearly, we deserved to be here. We deserved every single moment, and we tried to use the opportunities that were given to us. And we showed it. … This is really special, especially for our senior class.”

NCAA Championship Standings

1. Texas, 130 points
2. Stanford, 125 points
3. Tennessee, 119 points
4. Virginia, 114 points
5. Yale, 103 points
6. Princeton, 100 points
7. Washington, 100 points
8. California, 89 points
9. Syracuse, 80 points
10. Brown, 77 points
11. Rutgers, 75 points
12. Michigan, 69 points
13. Miami, 54 points
14. Ohio State, 52 points
15. Columbia, 49 points
16. UCF, 48 points
17. Oregon State, 38 points
18. Northeastern, 35 points
19. Boston University, 25 points
20. Rhode Island, 14 points
21. Massachusetts, 12 points
22. Jacksonville, 10 points

Sunday’s Race Results

1V8+ C Final

1. No. 15 Michigan, 5:59.45
2. No. 17 Columbia, 6:00.49
3. No. 12 UCF, 6:01.87
4. No. 13 Miami, 6:02.54
5. No. 20 Oregon State, 6:05.31
6. Northeastern, 6:20.14

1V4+ Petite Final

1. No. 8 California, 6:47.91
2. No. 7 Yale, 6:49.52
3. No. 9 Brown, 6:54.13
4. No. 5 Princeton, 6:58.30
5. No. 11 Syracuse, 7:00.52
6. No. 13 Miami, 7:07.99

2V8+ Petite Final

1. No. 4 Washington, 6:03.35
2. No. 15 Michigan, 6:05.59
3. No. 8 California, 6:07.13
4. No. 11 Syracuse, 6:08.64
5. No. 9 Brown, 6:08.77
6. No. 13 Miami, 6:17.11