MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Nine members of the West Virginia University rowing team were honored by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association as 2023 CRCA Scholar-Athletes.
 
"These Mountaineers are to be congratulated and celebrated for their exemplary achievements as students and as athletes, truly embodying the term student-athlete," WVU rowing coach Jimmy King said. "While they are certainly well-supported by WVU in their endeavors, the choice is ultimately theirs to compete at such a high level in their academic and athletic pursuits. Well done!"

The nine Mountaineer student-athletes named to this year's team were graduate student Maxine Cassell (exercise physiology), seniors Lydia Nicolai (environmental geoscience), Kaira Niedoba (landscape architecture), Sydney VanAuken (management information systems) and juniors Emily DeGlopper (exercise physiology), Emily Dumford (forensic examiner), Anna Gall (exercise physiology), Ryleigh Rosta (psychology) and Ryleigh Williams (accounting).

Nicolai, Niedoba and VanAuken earned a spot on the scholar-athlete team for the third consecutive year, and Cassell (once at George Washington, once at WVU), DeGlopper, Gall and Williams were named to the team for the second year.

Cassell earned her master's degree, and Nicolai, Niedoba, VanAuken and Williams graduated with their bachelor's degrees in May. A school-record 11 CRCA Scholar-Athletes were named in 2021 and 2022. There were eight named to the scholar-athlete team in 2013, 2017 and 2020.
 
To earn CRCA Scholar-Athlete honors, student-athletes must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better and must have competed in the NCAA team boats of First Eight, Second Eight and First Four for at least 75 percent of the team's spring races or at its conference championship. Eligibility also is limited to student-athletes in their sophomore, junior and senior seasons.