2V8 Wraps Up NCAA Championships With C Final Win

Sunday, May 30

Sarasota, Fla.

Duke University

NCAA Championships

2V8 Wraps Up NCAA Championships With C Final Win

5/30/2021 7:58:00 PM | Rowing

RESULTS

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Duke Second Varsity Eight boat won the C Finals and the Blue Devils finished 16th in the team standings as three days of competition at the NCAA Rowing Championships wrapped up Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park.

Duke's 2V8 squad, which finished second in its semifinal race on Saturday, registered a top time of 6:43.416 to outpace Princeton, Washington State, Tennessee, Alabama and Navy in the C Final. Princeton shot out to a lead of 0.5 seconds at the 1,000-meter mark, but the Blue Devils crew of coxswain Ithika Senthilnathan, Rachel McNutt (stroke), Savannah Herbek, Ema Kuczura, Erin Heyeck, Sydney Cikovic, Grace Butero, Caeley Tierney, Emilie Lijesen (bow) put together an impressive final sprint, and finished just over two seconds ahead of the second-place Tigers.

It marked Duke's third all-time win in a C Final at the NCAA Championships, as the 2V8 and Varsity Four boats each earned a victory at the 2016 regatta. With the win, Duke finishes the weekend in 13th place in the 2V8 division.

The V4 boat closed out an impressive weekend by taking third in the Petite Final. The Blue Devils found themselves trailing only Rutgers 1,000 meters into the race, but a late push from Washington State was enough to edge out Duke for the runner-up finish.

By finishing third in the Petite Final, the V4 squad earned ninth place overall in its division, marking the highest finish by an individual boat in program history.

The V8 C Final proved to be one of the morning's most tightly contested races, as the top five boats finished within seven seconds of one another. Duke maintained pace with SMU, Wisconsin and Washington State down the course, and the Blue Devils' final time of 6:37.250 was good for a fourth-place result and 16th overall in the V8 division.

"I'm so proud of this team and the grit they showed all season," head coach Megan Cooke Carcagno said. "Given this unprecedented year of challenges, we rose up and tied for the best program finish ever. With such a young team, I know the experience of racing at this level will serve us very well going into next year."

Duke tallied 55 points as a team on Sunday, marking the highest point total at the NCAA Championships in the program's three all-time appearances. The 16th-place standing matched the Blue Devils' final placement in 2019.

V8+ C Final
1. SMU – 6:31.478
2. Wisconsin – 6:33.822
3. Washington State – 6:35.798
4. Duke – 6:37.250
5. Tennessee – 6:38.956
6. Navy – 6:44.316

2V8+ C Final
1. Duke – 6:43.416
2. Princeton – 6:45.472
3. Washington State – 6:46.502
4. Tennessee – 6:48.972
5. Alabama – 6:51.030
6. Navy – 7:08.572

V4+ Petite Final
1. Rutgers – 7:21.861
2. Washington State – 7:23.997
3. Duke – 7:24.967
4. California – 7:25.365
5. Syracuse – 7:26.863
6. Brown – 7:29.597

Lineups
V8 – Tara Fagan (Cox), Lauren Sizemore (Stroke), Amelia Shunk, Megan Lee, Morgan Linsley, Sydney Johnson, Gabriella Salvati, Brenna Morley, McKendree Densel (Bow)

2V8 – Ithika Senthilnathan (Cox), Rachel McNutt (Stroke), Savannah Herbek, Ema Kuczura, Erin Heyeck, Sydney Cikovic, Grace Butero, Caeley Tierney, Emilie Lijesen (Bow)

V4 – Sarah Royka (Cox), Rivca Chaver (Stroke), Kathryn Nash, Meera Chakrabarti, Stella Haley (Bow)

#GoDuke