NCAA Division II rowing championship

NCAA Division II rowing championship
Association	NCAA
Sport	College rowing
Founded	2002; 24 years ago
Division	Division II
No. of teams	6
Country	United States
Most recent; champion	Embry-Riddle (1st)
Most titles	Western Washington (9)
Official website	NCAA.com

The NCAA Division II rowing championship is the annual regatta hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the champions of women's collegiate heavyweight (or openweight) rowing among its Division II member programs in the United States.^[1]

The most successful program has been Western Washington, with nine titles.

The most successful conference has been the GNAC, producing 15 of the 23 champions. Similarly, the only two years a GNAC team was not in the top two at the least was 2013 and 2015.

The reigning champion is Embry-Riddle, which won its first ever team national title in 2025.

By the early 2020s, sponsorship levels for women's rowing in Division II had dropped to the point that the future of D-II women's rowing itself was in danger. In 2024–25, only 11 Division II members sponsored the sport, with three others adding the sport for 2025–26. Both numbers are well below the 35 programs needed for continued sponsorship of a D-II championship. The 2024–25 season was the first of a three-year grace period before the championship would have been discontinued. With that as a backdrop, legislation was proposed in 2025 that would exempt women's rowing (as well as women's field hockey, another sport that was in danger of dropping below the 35-program threshold) from the 35-program limit. If the proposal had not been approved, the D-II rowing championship would would have been discontinued after the 2026–27 school year, and because Divisions I and III have their own championships, D-II rowing schools would have had no NCAA championship access. This legislation was approved by D-II members at the 2026 NCAA convention.^[2]^[3]

Format

The NCAA Division II Women's Rowing Championships comprise 68 total competitors (86 including spares) and two events, varsity eights and fours. Four teams are selected, each of which is required to field an eight and a four. Two additional at-large schools are selected to field only an eight. The following criteria are used in selecting teams and individual boats:

Regional ranking; regional championship results.
Results against regionally ranked teams; results against teams already selected; results against common opponents.
Head-to-head competition; late-season performance.
Eligibility and availability of student-athletes.

Scoring

Eights: 1st-12pts, 2nd-9pts, 3rd-6pts, 4th-5pts.
Fours: 1st-8pts, 2nd-6pts, 3rd-4pts.^[4]

Results

NCAA Division II Rowing Championships
Year	Site (Host Team)	Team Results				Individual Results
Year	Site (Host Team)	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Score	Fours	II Eights	I Eights
2002 Details	Indianapolis, IN	UC Davis	50	Western Washington	45	Not held	UC Davis	UC Davis
2003 Details	Indianapolis, IN	UC Davis (2)	20	Western Washington	15	UC Davis	Not held	UC Davis (2)
2004 Details	Gold River, CA	Mercyhurst	18	Humboldt State	17	Humboldt State		Mercyhurst
2005 Details	Gold River, CA	Western Washington	20	Mercyhurst	12	Western Washington		Western Washington
2006 Details	West Windsor, NJ	Western Washington (2)	20	Barry	15	Western Washington (3)		Western Washington (2)
2007 Details	Oak Ridge, TN	Western Washington (3)	20	UC San Diego	15	Western Washington (4)		Western Washington (3)
2008 Details	Gold River, CA	Western Washington (4)	20	UC San Diego	15	Western Washington (5)		Western Washington (4)
2009 Details	Cherry Hill, NJ	Western Washington (5)	18	Mercyhurst	13	Nova Southeastern		Western Washington (5)
2010 Details	Gold River, CA	Western Washington (6)	20	Seattle Pacific	11	Western Washington (6)		Mercyhurst (2)
2011 Details	Gold River, CA	Western Washington (7)	20	Mercyhurst	13	Western Washington (7)		Western Washington (6)
2012 Details	West Windsor, NJ	Humboldt State	20	Western Washington	13	Humboldt State (2)		Humboldt State
2013 Details	Indianapolis, IN	Nova Southeastern	20	Barry	15	Nova Southeastern (2)		Nova Southeastern
2014 Details	Indianapolis, IN	Humboldt State (2)	16	Nova Southeastern	15	Western Washington (8)		Humboldt State (2)
2015 Details	Gold River, CA	Barry	20	Mercyhurst	15	Barry		Barry
2016 Details	Gold River, CA	Barry (2)	20	Central Oklahoma	15	Barry (2)		Barry (2)
2017 Details	West Windsor, NJ	Western Washington (8)	17	Central Oklahoma	16	Western Washington (9)		Central Oklahoma
2018 Details	Sarasota, FL	Central Oklahoma	18	Western Washington	14	Western Washington (10)		Central Oklahoma (2)
2019 Details	Indianapolis, IN^[5]	Central Oklahoma (2)	30	Florida Tech	23	Central Oklahoma		Central Oklahoma (3)
2020	Canceled due to COVID-19
2021 Details	Sarasota, FL	Central Oklahoma (3)	20	Mercyhurst	15	Central Oklahoma (2)	Not held	Central Oklahoma (4)
2022 Details	Sarasota, FL	Mercyhurst (2)	30	Western Washington	19	Mercyhurst		Mercyhurst (3)
2023 Details	Pennsauken, NJ (Temple)	Cal Poly Humboldt (3)	30	Central Oklahoma	25	Cal Poly Humboldt (3)		Cal Poly Humboldt (3)
2024 Details	Bethel, OH (Marietta)	Western Washington (9)	22	Mercyhurst	21	Seattle Pacific		Western Washington (7)
2025 Details	West Windsor, NJ (Ivy & MAAC)	Embry-Riddle	26	Cal Poly Humboldt	24	Cal Poly Humboldt (4)		Embry-Riddle
2026 Details	Gainesville, GA (North Georgia)

Team champions

Active programs

Team	#	Years
Western Washington	9	2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2024
Cal Poly Humboldt (Humboldt State)	3	2012, 2014, 2023
Central Oklahoma	3	2018, 2019, 2021
Barry	2	2015, 2016
Embry-Riddle	1	2025
Nova Southeastern	1	2013

Former programs

Team	#	Years
Mercyhurst	2	2004, 2022
UC Davis^[6]	2	2002, 2003

References

^ "DIVISION II ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS BOOK" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
^ "NCAA Division II Proposal No. 2026-14" (PDF). 2026 NCAA Convention Division II Legislative Proposals: Question and Answer Guide. NCAA Division II Executive Board. December 5, 2025. pp. 41–42. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
^ "DII members approve sending 5 seasons-of-competition proposal back to governance structure" (Press release). NCAA. January 16, 2026. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
^ "Rowing - Highlights" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04.
^ "NCAA rowing championships: Washington, Central Oklahoma, Bates crowned this weekend". Ncaa.com.
^ "Search | UC Davis". www.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-30.

External links

NCAA Division II Rowing

[1] "DIVISION II ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS BOOK" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. Retrieved 9 January 2025.

[2] "NCAA Division II Proposal No. 2026-14" (PDF). 2026 NCAA Convention Division II Legislative Proposals: Question and Answer Guide. NCAA Division II Executive Board. December 5, 2025. pp. 41–42. Retrieved January 29, 2026.

[3] "DII members approve sending 5 seasons-of-competition proposal back to governance structure" (Press release). NCAA. January 16, 2026. Retrieved January 29, 2026.

[4] "Rowing - Highlights" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04.

[5] "NCAA rowing championships: Washington, Central Oklahoma, Bates crowned this weekend". Ncaa.com.

[6] "Search | UC Davis". www.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-30.

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