Miami rowing’s classroom honors make its historic season even better

Miami rowing already gave the athletic department one of its best stories of the spring. Monday added another layer to it.

Eleven Hurricanes earned Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete Award recognition, according to the University of Miami. Miami’s breakthrough season was not just a boat-speed story after its first NCAA Championship appearance. It also came with a real academic marker attached.

The honorees were Sara Caterisano, Jane Elsner, Paula Espinosa Linares, Kylie Evenson, Grace Gaskill, Anna Langemann, Candela Martinez Pernas, Jovana Stanivuk, Mallory Sullivan, Nicole Wyszynski and Naroa Zubimendi Varela. The group covers a wide academic range, from majors in microbiology and immunology to chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, business technology, exercise physiology, advertising management, psychology, criminology and applied physiology.

The CRCA award is not a participation certificate. Honorees must be in their second, third, fourth or fifth year of eligibility, carry at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA through the end of the fall semester or winter quarter and meet a racing threshold by competing in at least 75 percent of spring races or in an NCAA boat at a conference championship or NCAA Championship. The Hurricanes put 11 names on the list immediately after the most important season in program history. That is how a program starts to build a fuller identity.

Miami reached the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history after earning an at-large berth. The Hurricanes posted a top-five finish at the ACC Championship, set multiple school records and entered the national regatta ranked No. 13.

Rowing is not going to pull football-style attention from the fan base, but the pitch to future athletes is obvious. Miami can now sell national championship access, school records, ranked-team status and a long list of scholar-athletes in the last year. The Hurricanes needed years to reach the NCAA stage. Now, the question is whether they can turn one historic season into a standard.