WORCESTER, Mass. --

Coast Guard's Women's Rowing team took to Lake Quinsigamond this weekend to compete for the NEWMAC Championship. With clear skies and ideal conditions, Coast Guard performed well across the board.

Kicking off the day's events, Coast Guard's Varsity 8 put forth a hard-fought race. Coming off the line in fourth, they were able to charge through the second half of the race to walk through WPI, finishing with a strong third place finish. Wellesley won the event in a time of 6:53.09, followed by Smith with 6:55.29 and Coast Guard in third with 7:09.09. Rounding out the rest of the field was WPI, Clark, Mount Holyoke then Simmons.

In the 2nd Varsity 8 event, Coast Guard again held their own, holding off WPI to cross the line in third. Smith won the event with a time of 7:12.5, followed by Wellesley in 7:18.83 and Coast Guard in a time of 7:30.38. WPI, Mount Holyoke and Clark finished in that order. This was Coast Guard's best finish in the event since 2007 when the Bears took 2nd in that race. 

Closing out the morning's racing for Coast Guard was the 3rd Varsity 8 event. Coast Guard comfortably crossed the line in third with a time of 7:46.43. Smith won the event with a time of 7:19.9, with Wellesley in second with 7:21.47. WPI and Mount Holyoke finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Coast Guard finished 3rd in the NEWMAC Championship AQ standings with 35 points. Wellesley won with 43 points, taking the NCAA Automatic Qualifier. Coast Guard also finished third in the Florence Jope Smith Cup with 24 points. Smith retained the Cup.

Coast Guard placed two athletes on the All-NEWMAC First Team, 2/c Alexis Pape and 1/c Kerry Lee. The Bears also took home the inaugural NEWMAC Rookie of the Year award which was voted on by the coaches and awarded to 4/c Belle Greenshields.

The Bears return to action in Worcester, MA this coming weekend for the New England Rowing Championship.

Results:

Lineups:

Varsity 8
c Alexa Hartley (Vienna, VA)
8 Laine Emanatian (Saratoga Springs, NY)
7 Stella Smith (Falls Church, VA)
6 Helena Belle Greenshields (Dover, NH)
5 Tesa Koenig (Ethel, WA)
4 Alexis Pape (Richmond, VA)
3 Razie Guillory (Sitka, AK)
2 Kerry Lee (Scituate, MA)
1 Giselle Johnson (Wyoming, MN)

2nd Varsity 8
c Maya Blair (Apex, NC)
8 Piper Garrett (Colorado Springs, CO)
7 Alyssa Howry (Tampa, FL)
6 Sarah Bell (Seattle, WA)
5 Phoebe DuBois (Gaithersburg, MD)
4 Taylor Schnatz (Kings Point, NY)
3 Ella Smith (Arlington, VA)
2 Lauren Proctor (Hawesville, KY)
1 Piper Stephens (Satellite Beach, FL)

3rd Varsity 8
c Katelyn Harvey (East Haddam, CT)
8 Zoe Schilke (Senioa, GA)
7 Jenna Scileppi (Haddam, CT)
6 Sam Barr (Montclair, VA)
5 Bella Darby (Townsend, GA)
4 Jaida Lippy (Phoenix, AZ)
3 Heidi Jung (Irvine, CA)
2 Madeline Fontana (Arlington, VA)
1 Josie Weinert (Lake Oswego, OR)