For the 11th straight year, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ women rowed in the NCAA Championships. For the second time in three years, they returned to campus as national champions.

We went behind the scenes at the championships, held May 26 and 27 on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., to capture emotion and excitement from student athletes and fans alike.

Even after it was all over, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ seniors didn’t want to leave.

“This is my team. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye,” said Abbey Bierman ’17, coxswain of the second varsity eight boat.

The championship came thanks to gutsy performances by both ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ boats. “It was really the epitome of what I love about this sport,” Julia Mason ’17 said.

“This is setting the team up really well for the next four years,” Molly Pritz ’17 said. “I’ll be on shore, screaming my heart out.”

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ women’s rowing team defeated Williams by one point to win the 2017 NCAA Championship in dramatic fashion the morning of May 27 on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

Competing first at the regatta, the Bobcats’ second varsity eight won its race (their fourth consecutive gold medal), earning ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ 12 points. Williams’ boat finished third, and that would be critical.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ first varsity eight then took to the water. Though they would finish second to Williams (earning 27 points), ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 39 points overall were enough for the championship, just one point better than Williams’ 38, the Ephs falling short because of their third place finish earlier in the 2V8 race.

Watch this clip of the team being introduced as national champions, plus comments from senior Molly Pritz:

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 2V8 rowers watched nervously from the shore as the first varsity eight battled its way to second. Captain Abigail Bierman ’17, second varsity coxswain, describes the scene.

“We’re watching, we’re watching, and Wellesley puts up this fight in the last 500 meters that almost gets them,” she recalls. But ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ “put up an even bigger fight. My bow seat Alex Salazar turns around and is like ‘I can’t watch any more!'”

The race ends, and “we whip our heads around to the coaching staff, and ask, ‘Did we?’ and they nodded — We did!”

The weekly ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Bobcast features the national champs:

This marks the 11th consecutive year the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ women have rowed in the NCAA Championships. They have finished first twice (2015 and 2017), second six times, third twice and fifth once.

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College men’s tennis team was selected to participate in the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships for the seventh straight year on Monday, the longest such streak of any athletic program at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

The Bobcats (9-9) are one of 27 teams who will play in the tournament, and one of seven teams who will play in the Northeast Region. Three of the teams are at Middlebury and four are at Williams.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is the fourth seed in the field at Williams College and will play the host Ephs (12-3) this Saturday, May 6. The winner will face the winner between Trinity College (13-3) and Bowdoin (7-10) in the second round for the right to move on to the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds at the University of Mary Washington May 17-22.

The selection of teams is based on won-lost record, strength of schedule and eligibility and availability of student-athletes. The selection committee considered team results in collegiate matches play from Sept. 6, 2005, until the time of final selections.

In the 2005 championship, UC-Santa Cruz defeated Middlebury 4-1.

Liz Wanless is one of 52 state finalists for the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year award after earning the title for the State of Maine. The award honors outstanding female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics and community leadership, and have completed their collegiate athletics eligibility.

Wanless ’04 (Belleville, Ill.), the 2004 indoor and outdoor NCAA champion in the shot put and an All-America volleyball player, is the third student-athlete to represent ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ as Maine’s NCAA Woman of the Year. Amanda Colby ’00 and Peggy Ficks ’01 were also Maine winners of the award.

“ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has been fortunate to have so many strong nominees in recent years,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey. “Liz continues that tradition, and we are happy that her achievements have been recognized with such a prestigious honor.”

Wanless, who will compete for the University of Florida’s women’s outdoor track and field team as a graduate student this year, is eligible for the award since she has finished her career at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ as an NCAA Division III athlete.

Wanless is one of just 11 Division III athletes to be a state finalist. A national winner – the NCAA Woman of the Year – will be selected by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics from among 10 finalists.  The top 10 finalists will be announced Wednesday, Sept. 15.

The national winner will be announced at the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year dinner Sunday, Oct. 31, at The Indianapolis Westin.  This is the 14th year that the award – one of the top honors the NCAA bestows – will be given.