Women's Rowing 6/9/2020 10:24:00 AM

Fastest Crew in the Nation: An Oral History of Yale’s 2010 Varsity Eight NCAA Championship

10 Years Ago Bulldogs Earned Third Varsity Eight Title in Four Years

For the last two decades, under the direction of head coach Will Porter, Yale women's crew has consistently been among the nation's elite programs. The pinnacle of that success came 10 years ago when the varsity eight captured the grand final at the NCAA Championship. It was the third time in four years that the Bulldogs had the fastest crew in the nation and was the final race at Yale for three seniors – Tess Gerrand, Alice Henly and Taylor Ritzel – who were part of all three titles. Three other seniors were in boat on that day on Lake Natoma in Northern California – Maren McCrea, Catherine Hart and coxswain Mia Kanak – along with juniors Caroline Nash and Stephanie Madner and the baby of the group, sophomore Dara Dickson.

Two weeks earlier, Yale had captured the Ivy League title, but the season was not without its challenges. The Bulldogs had lost to Princeton and Virginia by a fairly substantial margin during the dual meet season. There also was the tricky proposition of working practices around graduation ceremonies, which were held the week before the championship.

What follows is a look back at the memorable NCAA title from four of the key participants.

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