After earning an automatic bid to the postseason by sweeping the Big 12 Championship, the No. 12 rowing team now embarks on its second consecutive NCAA Division I Wo³¾±ð²Ô’s Rowing Championships appearance.
The qualification marks the first time the Knights have advanced to the NCAA Championship in back‑to‑back years since making five straight appearances from 2015-2019 thanks to their dynasty of American Athletic Conference titles.
Rowing is one of 10 UCF programs to compete at an NCAA postseason regional or championship event in 2025-26, joining ³¾±ð²Ô’s and wo³¾±ð²Ô’s soccer, indoor track & field, ³¾±ð²Ô’s basketball, ³¾±ð²Ô’s and wo³¾±ð²Ô’s tennis, wo³¾±ð²Ô’s golf, softball and baseball. The 10 NCAA appearances ties for the most in UCF history with the 2018-19 athletic year.
Postseason Outlook
The Knights are looking to build off their Top 15 finish last year — the highest in program history.
The NCAA Division I Wo³¾±ð²Ô’s Rowing Championships are comprised of 22 teams and provides three events (I Eights, II Eights and Fours), each covering a 2,000-meter course. Each team is required to field two boats of eight rowers each and one boat of four rowers.
The event opens with heats on Friday, May 29, followed by semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday. UCF’s boat seedings and heat sheets for day one are:
- First 4+: UCF’s highest‑seeded crew enters at eight. The Knights will race in Heat 1 against No. 17 Columbia, No. 9 Brown, No. 2 Stanford and No. 13 Miami, competing out of lane four.
- First 8+: Seeded 10th, the Knights line up in Heat 2 with Boston, No. 3 Texas, No. 8 California and No. 14 Ohio State, racing from lane two.
- Second 8+: Slotted as the 17-seed, UCF will face No. 11 Syracuse, No. 2 Stanford, No. 1 Tennessee and No. 14 Ohio State, launching from lane one.
UCF’s Road to the NCAA Championship
UCF has been ranked in the top 25 all season, climbing as high as No. 11 on the road to repeating as Big 12 champions.
In her third season at the helm of the program, UCF head coach Mara Allen was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. She has led the Knights to first-place finishes in all but one race this season.
Junior kinesiology major Brigitte Kappler was named Big 12 Rower of the year, keeping the honor in Orlando after senior Hannah Lovejoy claimed the distinction last year. Lovejoy, who graduated with her accounting degree earlier this month, went on to be recognized with Order of Pegasus this year.
Freshman mechanical engineering major Madison Lovejoy was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after competing in the Black and Gold’s top two boats for the entirety of the spring season.
