SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Bates second varsity eight won its eighth consecutive gold medal at the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships as the Bobcats finished national runner-up to Wellesley Saturday afternoon at Nathan Benderson Park. 

"In terms of having been to NCAAs before, you could call this the least experienced team we've had during my time at Bates," head coach Peter Steenstra said. "It's been a lot of fun watching them develop and get better throughout the year, becoming a tightly knit group along the way. I am very proud of this performance and we can't wait for next season." 

After multiple lighting delays Saturday morning, Bates finally got on the water in the early afternoon. Led by junior coxswain Isabella Sobolewski (Washington, D.C.) and sophomore stroke Genesis Bussey (Bronx, N.Y.), the second varsity eight won its race in 7:04.156. It was a wire-to-wire victory, but it did not come easy, as the Wellesley second varsity eight got second in 7:05.070. Bates earned 16 points for the victory while the Blue picked up 14 points.

The gold-medal winning 2V was made up entirely of Bobcats who had never competed at NCAAs previously in their careers. Nevertheless, they continued a Bates 2V tradition that dates back to 2014: winning the gold medal at NCAAs.

"I think the most exciting thing was the fight we saw in everyone," Bussey said. "We have so much talent across the board but it took a lot of fighting to get us here and I am just so appreciative of everyone, here and back home, who made this possible." 

Then in the first varsity eight grand final, WPI picked up where it left off on Friday, sprinting out to the early lead and never letting go, winning the gold medal in 6:55.265. The Blue took second in 6:58.715 while the Bobcats earned the bronze medal in 7:01.075. Bates actually found itself in last place early in the race, but rallied to pass Tufts, Williams, and Ithaca to grab third. 

"I looked to my right and said, 'right now, we are last in the field!'," sophomore first varsity eight coxswain Lucy Del Col (Wellesley, Mass.) said. "But we've had this experience before, so we made three moves and advanced on the other crews, coming close to Wellesley by the final 250. WPI was crazy; they were awesome, they had an amazing race." 

Bates earned 34 points for the third-place finish in the 1V race. Combined with the 2V's 16 points, the Bobcats finished the NCAA Championships with 50 points. The Blue won the national title by just one point, earning 37 points for their second-place finish in the 1V grand final to go along with the 14 they picked up in the 2V race. WPI finished third overall, picking up 40 points for the Engineers' impressive 1V victory and eight points for a fifth-place showing in the 2V race. 

The Blue's victory marks the first time Bates has not won the national championship in women's rowing since 2016, a year that saw Wellesley win its first title. The Bobcats have finished either first or second in the country in 12 of the past 13 seasons.

Bates WV8 lineup: Bow: Eliana Weissmann; 2: Molly Connors; 3: Sophia Marota; 4: Katarina Dickson; 5: Lillian Kinder; 6: Maeve Mikulski; 7: Casey Winter; Stroke: Ollie Young; c: Lucy Del Col

Bates W2V8 lineup: Bow: Darya Lee; 2: Hope Stamp; 3: Livia Bernhardt; 4: Abigail Somosky; 5: Mary Trafton; 6: Olivia Szachta; 7: Lydia Barker; Stroke: Genesis Bussey c: Isabella Sobolewski

Alternate: Hannah Burdick

Alternate: Josephine Stevens

Alternate Cox: Olivia Seline