For a Rutgers rowing program that just last year called its second-place Big Ten Championships finish the best in school history, there was only one place left to go, and not all of it could be up. On Sunday morning at the Indianapolis Rowing Center, the Scarlet Knights raised the floor anyway. The No. 12 Rutgers women compiled 322 points to claim second place at the 2026 Big Ten Rowing Championships, an all-time program-best team total that came in 83 points above last year’s total of 239 and within
striking distance of two-time defending conference champion, Washington. The Scarlet Knights medaled in all seven races, taking silver in six and gold in the third varsity eight, the only Big Ten race all morning that Washington did not win. The Scarlet Knights entered the meet ranked No. 12 nationally, one of five top-20 teams in an 11-school Big Ten field. Two-time defending conference champion Washington, ranked No. 4, sat at the top of the standings going in. Ohio State (No. 16), Michigan (No. 17), and UCLA (No. 18) filled out the ranked programs. Rutgers arrived in Indianapolis off the program’s previous best finish at last year’s Big Ten Championships, a 10-victory haul at the Women’s Eastern Sprints in early May, three Big Ten Boat of the Week distinctions, and competitive runs against No. 1 Stanford and Washington at the Big Ten Invitational in April. The Big Ten champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, which run May 29-31 at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Georgia. Originally scheduled as a two-day event with heats on Saturday and grand finals on Sunday, the meet was reshuffled when forecast inclement weather forced organizers to move all heats up to Friday evening. The shift compressed the schedule, but it did not slow the Scarlet Knights down. Rutgers advanced all seven of its boats to Sunday’s grand finals.
The Second Varsity 4 of Audrey White, Izzy Johnson, Emily Szopa, Sofia Ulinski, and coxswain Elizabeth Steron set the fastest time of the entire 2V4 field, winning their heat in 7:40.499 with nearly a 10-second lead at the halfway point. The Third Varsity 4 of Shea Callahan, Lowri Cawdell, Bridget Moore, Sierra Smith, and coxswain Lindsey Eattock posted the top time across the 3V4 heats at 7:43.207, just 0.7 seconds clear of Washington.
The First Varsity 8 won its heat in 6:50.579, finishing 0.438 seconds behind Washington’s heat-winning time. The Second Varsity 8 was equally tight, with Rutgers (7:06.630) trailing Washington (7:06.514) by 0.116 seconds across heats. By the time the grand finals were set, Rutgers and Washington were on a collision course in nearly every event.
Sunday’s grand finals were moved up to a 7:47 a.m. ET starts to beat the anticipated winds. Across seven races, Washington won six to claim the team title with a record-setting 350 points. The Scarlet Knights finished second in six of those, never falling more than a length and a half behind. The First Varsity 8 came across in 6:34.260, just over three seconds behind Washington’s 6:31.017. The Second Varsity 8 added another silver in 6:43.914, with the Huskies winning by a half-length of open water.
In the First Varsity 4, Rutgers actually broke to the front, leading Washington through the first 500 meters before the Huskies closed the gap and moved into the lead just after 1,000 meters. The Scarlet Knights crossed in 7:40.615, less than a boat length of open water behind the eventual winner. The Second Varsity 4 followed in 8:04.778, eight seconds back of Washington in the race that mathematically clinched the team title for the Huskies. The Third Varsity 4 and Fourth Varsity 8 added their silver medals to round out the morning’s runner-up runs.
The lone Big Ten title came in the final race of the regatta. The Third Varsity 8 outran Washington across the 2,000-meter course to deny the Huskies a perfect sweep, finishing first to send the Scarlet Knights home with the gold and the Huskies with a second-place finish in the day’s last event. The result was the kind of capper a program-best weekend deserved.
Beatrice Colclough and Fallon DeWitt earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors for the Scarlet Knights. Shea Callahan was named Rutgers’ Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree. The 322-point team total was the highest in program history at the Big Ten Championships, eclipsing last year’s 239 by 83 points and the program’s previous-best second-place finish in the process.
Rutgers will now wait on the NCAA Selection Show on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET. The 24-boat NCAA Championship field will race May 29-31 on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia, and Rutgers’ Sunday six silver medals and a gold against the country’s No. 4 program, should leave very little doubt about whether the Scarlet Knights belong in the national competition.
