Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst women's rowing makes their way to the buckeye state with the team set to compete in the NCAA DII National Championships this weekend. The team was announced on the 21st by the NCAA as one of the six teams to compete in the event with day one of racing set to begin on Friday, May 31st, with a new champion being crowned the following day.

The Lakers were able to put together another solid season on the water with the team able to get better and better as the year went along. Mercyhurst had two of their better showings in the final two races of the the regular season in SIRAs and the Dad Vails and now look to keep things rolling into the biggest event of the season. In the SIRAs, both the women's fours and eights finished fifth in their final race among a crowded and talented group of boats. They then began the month of may the way they had hoped in the Dad Vails. The eights came away with first in the Grand Final with a time of 7:13.738 to help them claim the Backe Trophy with the fours secured a podium finish, coming in third in their Grand Final.

Mercyhurst is no stranger to the championships with the team earning pair of national titles to the point with their most recent coming in 2022 while their first title was in 2004. The team has been right in the thick of things more often than not, claiming second on five occasions, doing so in 2021 for their most recent silver finish. The team now vies for their third national title overall and their second in three years to help them tie Central Oklahoma for the second-most by any program since 2002.

The other squads set to compete in the championships have gotten their plenty themselves with the field of six being Mercyhurst, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, Embry-Riddle, Cal Poly Humboldt, and Central Oklahoma. Of those six teams, four of them have claimed at least on tittle with Cal Poly Humboldt looking to do so for a second-straight season while Central Oklahoma looks for their four since 2018 and Western Washington hopes to claim their ninth title after winning seven in a row from 2005 to 2011. The women's eights will begin on the 31st in the second heat against Seattle Pacific and West Washington in lane four while the fours are in lane two of the second heat, seeing Western Washington and Cal Poly Humboldt.