GREENE, Maine -- The Bates women's rowing team is returning to the NCAA Championships for the 17th time in the past 18 seasons, with the Bobcats learning they'd earned an at-large bid on Tuesday as they watched the selection show at the Traquina Boathouse. 

Bates heads to West Windsor, N.J. where they'll compete on May 30th and 31st for an NCAA Division III championship as the fourth seed in a field of eight teams. Bates gets a chance to once again square off against NESCAC foes Tufts, Williams, and Wesleyan, as well as Ithaca, St. Mary's (Md.), Wellesley, and Pacific Lutheran. The Bobcats have won five NCAA championships, most recently in 2021. They return to NCAAs this year after just falling short of a bid last season.  

"I have faced getting into NCAAs and not getting into NCAAs, so I was preparing for both sets of emotions," senior captain Hannah Burdick (Lyme, N.H.) said. "The excitement was building up all day. We only have a handful of people who have been before, so this is huge for the future of the team." 

Bates earned the at-large bid thanks to their fourth-place finish at the National Invitational Rowing Championship, where their top two eights finished fourth and sixth respectively in their grand finals.

"We thought this morning might be our last time on the water together as a team," Burdick said. "Now, it's not."