BY CHIP DAVIS
PHOTO BY LISA WORTHY
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To determine college rowing’s pecking order, we took the official results of the separate national championships for each school and weighed them with a special formula to arrive at the top 25.
Tied-25 – Duke women, Drexel heavyweight men, Mercyhurst
Three schools tied for 25th overall in 2022, and they wound up there based on very different results.
—Duke University’s women, the third of three ACC programs at the NCAAs and the school’s only varsity category, carried their placing.
—Drexel University’s heavyweight men were the best part of the school’s program, with a 16th-place finish at the IRA.
—Mercyhurst University is the only college with a Division II varsity women’s program to make the top 25. Its NCAA national championship in that division, combined with the lightweight men’s eighth-place finish at the IRA, tied them for 25th overall in 2022.
#24 – University of Southern California
USC’s varsity women finished fifth at the Pac-12 championships and became the fifth program from the powerful conference to be invited to NCAAs, making the Pac-12 the strongest women’s rowing conference in 2022. The Trojans finished 15th overall at the NCAA regatta, earning their 24th-overall ranking for 2022.
#23 – Rutgers University
Rutgers University’s varsity women’s program raced to a 13th-place finish at the NCAAs, earning the Scarlet Knights a 23rd-overall standing for 2022.
#22 – Columbia University
The national championship, won by the Lions’ men’s varsity lightweights, was the brightest spot this year, and the 18th-place finish by the varsity heavyweight men’s crew contributed to the Lions’ making the top 25.
#21 – Southern Methodist University
SMU joins the nation’s top rowing schools led by coach Kim Cupini’s women’s varsity program. Successfully defending their American Athletic Conference champion status earned the Mustangs an automatic-qualifier spot at the NCAAs, where their 12th-place final ranking lands them 21st overall for 2022.
#20 – University of Michigan
The University of Michigan’s varsity women finished 10th at the NCAA Division I championship regatta. That result, combined with the Wolverines’ best-in-the-nation men’s club program, land them 20th overall for 2022.
