2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP (WOMEN)
RESULTS
Stanford Women’s Rowing – 2025 NCAA Champions!
The Stanford Women are NCAA Champions again! Their remarkable effort firmly puts Stanford in the lead for total NCAA Championships, now at 138, and positions Stanford well in the annual Learfield Director’s Cup race, which Stanford has won 26 out of 30 times. Along with 2009 and 2023, this is Stanford Women’s Rowing’s 3rd NCAA Championship.
While the Stanford Women were clear leaders all year, between their convincing win at Texas as well as all of the rankings and models, putting the 1V8 at least five seconds ahead of everyone else, it wasn’t going to be easy. Aside from the unknown fine-tunings of other competitors, the weather and race conditions were going to be a big part of the story, both at NCAAs on Lake Mercer, as well as with IRAs at the Cooper River only 40 miles away.
By now many are aware of #1 Cal Men’s 1V8 devastating full-stop crab at the IRAs, which kept them out of Grand Finals for the first time in decades. But, there were also other mishaps, such as the Virigina Women’s 1V8 crab with three strokes to go in the NCAA semifinals, which luckily didn’t affect their placing. Ironically, times were fast across the board due to the tailwind, but there were a lot of bobbles and missed or partial strokes at both venues throughout the weekend, which likely affected some of the race outcomes. And Cooper River has lot of geese, affecting some races in the 2023 NCAA and also having some (minor) interferences here and there at the 2025 IRAs. A Radcliffe rower was quoted as saying "It felt like The (Charles River) Basin out there.", which means very challenging and, if anything, probably a slight advantage to crews from the northeast. It wouldn’t be surprising if race organizers opted for more consistent venues in the future (e.g. Sarasota, FL) when high-stakes national championships are on the line.
This makes the Stanford Women’s achievement all the more remarkable, by staying focused and consistent and avoiding the fate of other teams. On Finals Day, the 1V4 really came through. They had finished behind Texas in the semis, making the outcome by no means certain. Their first-place finish turned out to be very important to the championship.
The dominant 2V8 came out as in years past and went completely undefeated all weekend, winning by very solid margins, including in the finals, and securing the foundation for the trophy.
The 1V8 raced strong and valiantly all weekend, and secured the NCAA Championship with their silver medal placing in the finals. This showed the overall importance of the depth of the team. While the 1V8 was dominant in most every way this year, a strong Yale 1V8 got out to an early lead and maintained it through the rough conditions. Even with Yale’s victory, cMax still has Stanford #1 based on its least-squares modeling, supporting our belief that the 1V8 would likely win over multiple races on flat water. But, thanks to the total team effort the Stanford Women brought the trophy back to The Farm with the entire squad sharing in the championship celebration!
Women’s 1V8 Grand Final:
1. Yale 06:06.1
2. Stanford 06:08.3
3. Texas 06:09.8
4. Tennessee 06:10.9
5. Washington 06:12.5
6. Brown 06:14.1
Women’s 2V8 Grand Final:
1. Stanford 06:13.1
2. Washington 06:14.9
3. Princeton 06:15.0
4. Texas 06:17.2
5. Yale 06:19.5
6. Virginia 06:28.0
Women’s 1V4 Grand Final:
1. Stanford 06:56.5
2. Washington 06:58.6
3. Texas 06:59.5
4. Yale 07:01.8
5. Rutgers 07:01.9
6. Tennessee 07:12.2
Women’s NCAA Championship Points:
1. Stanford 129
2. Yale 121
3. Texas 118
4. Washington 117
5. Tennessee 106
6. Princeton 99
Read the goStanford writeup here.
End of Season Highlights:
In addition to winning its third NCAA team title, the Cardinal also claimed its fourth straight conference team title and its first as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, sweeping all races at the championship regatta for the first time since 2021.
The program’s dominance was further recognized by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA), which awarded First-Team All-America honors to five Cardinal rowers: Luise Bachmann, Matilda Drewett, Celia Dupre, Iris Klock, and Honor Warburg. This is only the fourth time in program history that Stanford has placed five rowers on the first team. Bachmann became a three-time All-American, joining an elite group of eight Stanford rowers in that category.
Coaching staff were also honored, with Derek Byrnes named CRCA Region 3 Coach of the Year, and the entire staff—including Alben Family Associate Head Coach Molly Hamrick and assistants Antonella Kugler, Molly Milligan, and Maegan Neihart—earning Region 3 Staff of the Year.
