NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Red Team. Upstream. The Rutgers rowing team is carrying a boatload of momentum into the 2022 season. A seventh place NCAA Championships team finish, a fifth place Varsity 8 boat at the national regatta, a third place Big Ten Championships result. The Scarlet Knights are stacking historic seasons under fifth-year head coach
Justin Price, who was named the CRCA Regional Coach of the Year for Rutgers' efforts in 2021.
"We have done a nice job so far this year throughout the Fall season and preseason training," Price said. "We have a ton of depth and a really great group with a lot of energy, from the youngest athletes to the most experienced rowers, and everywhere in between. We are making great progress in building that momentum."
The momentum will be built upon experience in 2022. Rutgers returns 20 of 23 rowers/coxswains that competed in that run to a seventh place NCAA Championships finish last May. The returners from that campaign include four of last season's five CRCA All-Americans -
Luisa Neerschulte,
Emily Mahaffy,
Femke Paulis, and
Olivia Maxton – and the Big Ten Freshman of the Year,
Hannah Heideveld. Those five also pushed the Varsity 8 to a pair of Big Ten Boat of the Week honors last Spring.
"It's a huge impact to have athletes experienced in training and racing returning," Price said. "We always talk about improving, so athletes that have been through it, they are better for it. That helps other teammates learn from them and it raises the standard. That is what I love about our team. We work together and we are inspired by one another."
The Scarlet Knights' competitors have again recognized Rutgers as one of the top programs in the nation. RU was listed at No. 8 in the Pocock CRCA National Poll in February, and will open the season at No. 10 this weekend.
Unlike the successful 2021 season that had its autumn schedule wiped out, the 2022 year started with the traditional Fall tune-ups. Rutgers gained valuable time in the water with three exhibitions against Columbia, Temple, and Navy before competing in the Princeton Chase in November. The Scarlet Knights also honed their skills this Spring against Princeton and Temple on the Raritan River a week before the season opener.
Rutgers will race in four regular season events to maximize its speed and power for championship season. The campaign opens with the return of the Doc Hosea Invitational on March 27 before the second annual Big Ten Invitational on April 15-16 in Sarasota, Florida, a preview of the 2022 NCAA Championships course. The Scarlet Knights head back North to face Princeton and Texas, the reigning NCAA champions, in Princeton on April 23 before the Women's Eastern Sprints in Worcester, Massachusetts on May 1.
The Scarlet Knights produced its best performance at a Big Ten Championships in 2021 with program records in team finish (third), points (143), medal-winning boats (five), and All-Conference selections (four). This year's conference regatta takes place on May 15 in Indianapolis.
The season culminates at the NCAA Championships in Sarasota, Florida from May 27-29.
