Stanford women’s rowing secures second national championship in three years

Stanford women’s rowing captured its third NCAA championship Sunday, amassing 129 points over three grand finals on Mercer Lake in New Jersey to outdistance runner-up Yale (121) and third-place Texas (118).

Sunday’s triumph doubled as redemption as Stanford took down the defending-champion Longhorns, who had given them trouble over the last several seasons. Texas nudged Stanford by three points in the 2024 championship while also handing the Cardinal second-place finishes in two incredibly close championships in 2021 and 2022. The 129 points matched the score Stanford achieved in their 2023 title win.

The top-seeded Cardinal was well on its way to a national title before the marquee varsity eight grand final launched, winning the varsity four in just under seven minutes and the second varsity eight in 6:13. Those two victories gave Stanford an insurmountable cushion as a subsequent second-place showing in the final race put the exclamation point on a dominant weekend. 

Yale earned the varsity eight crown with a time of 6:06, as Texas finished third just a few minutes behind the Bulldogs. Washington, Tennessee and Brown rounded out the six-boat field. Stanford’s second varsity eight edged Washington by 1.9 seconds, while the varsity four held off the Huskies by just over two seconds. 

Stanford put itself in command early. On Friday, the Cardinal swept all three heats to advance directly to the AB semifinals, then on Saturday won two semifinals and placed second in the third to qualify every boat for Sunday’s grand finals for a sixth straight year. 

The championship is Stanford’s second in three seasons and follows titles in 2009 and 2023. The win marks the program’s second title under head coach Derek Byrnes, who took over the program in 2016. Byrnes’ varsity-eight lineup — coxswain sophomore Honor Warburg, senior Luise Bachmann, sophomore Célia Dupré, freshman Sarah Marriott, senior Iris Klok, sophomore Matilda Drewett, junior Alice Baker, junior Annika Jeffery and senior Julietta Camahort — led the final push for Stanford as the women’s rowing title is heading back to The Farm.

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