Worcester, Mass - #9 Women's crew competed at the National Invitational Rowing Championships on Sunday. The Mules were met with warm weather, sun, and a steady breeze that made for some challenging conditions on the course. For NESCAC teams, NIRC is the conference championship, and for others, it marks their last opportunity to compete for an automatic bid for the NCAA championship. With the stakes so high, and seasons on the line, racing was tight. Heading into the weekend, Colby was ranked 9th, and seeded 8th, 10th, and 10th in the first, second, and third varsity events respectively. Morning heats were set based on the seeding with the top two finishers to move to the grand final, next two to the petite, and the rest to the 3rd level final. Colby's first and third varsity finished 3rd in the petite final and 10th overall in the team points.

Now for the lineups and results:

The first varsity was rowed by Shayna Leinberger '26, Ellie Pohlig '26, Zoey Honsel '28, Eliza Nilson '26, Heidi Alexanderian '29, Erica O'Donnell '27, Alena Rossi '28, Kate Ward '28, and Ally Tecimer '29. In their morning heat, they finished third with a time of 7:28.154 and earned a spot in the afternoon's petite final. In their final, Colby placed third with a time of 7:29.970, behind Smith and Wesleyan who went 7:21.752 and 7:23.580 respectively. 

The second varsity was rowed by Caroline Batchelder '28, Katherine White '26, Molly Garvey '28, Fiona Gosk '29, Shannon Murray '28, Dosia Fennell '29, Ella Brochu '28, Hannah Colling '28, and Dede Tindall '28. They finished fifth in the morning heat with a time of 7:59.240, placing themselves in the third level final. Swirling winds at the start line and some unlucky gusts led to a false start disqualification in the afternoon's final. 

 The third varsity was rowed by Addison Schonewald '29, Ellie Hyde '28, Zoe Dodge '26, Madeline Lee '29, Abby Stathis '27, Maya Ober '29, Charlotte Haeffner '28, Isa Jurado '27, and Sophia Sorabella '28. In a smaller field, that made for a three-to-advance format in the morning heats, the Mules finished fifth in the morning and earned a spot in the petite final. In the afternoon, they finished third with a time of 8:22.018. After being seeded 10th heading into the weekend, a 9th overall finish in the women's third varsity eight made for an exciting end to the season.

The 2026 spring season was an overall success for the Mules and after sending off the seniors and celebrating all they have contributed to the program in their four years, Colby Women's Crew will flip the page and prepare for the 2026-27 campaign.