Cards Close Out ACC Championship

Saturday, May 17

Clemson, SC

All Day

University of Louisville

ACC Rowing Championship

The Louisville rowing team at the 2025 ACC Championships

Photo by: Courtesy ACC

May 17, 2025 | Rowing

Complete Results

Senior Kaylie Leonard earns All-ACC third team recognition

By: Lori Harmon

CLEMSON, S.C. – The University of Louisville rowing team closed the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Saturday morning at Lake Hartwell. Senior Kaylie Leonard earned All-ACC third team honors.

"What a different feeling leaving ACCs this year versus last!" said assistant coach Egan Berne. "As a staff we're very grateful that this year the team trusted the training plan and themselves. This led to their steps forward in competition and authentic grit. Programmatically, we're incredibly proud of how far they've come and where they're heading. This is a team to watch, not just in the ACC but the national scene."

The final day of racing featured trio of top-three Petite Final finishes for Louisville. The Varsity Eight closed the day with second-place finish. With Olivia Guarnaccia at coxswain, Isabella Ulloa, Macy Whisenand, Leonard, Taylor Fausey, Claire Carver-Ritter, Emma Bell, Clara Jane Van Dyk and Haley Kunz raced to a time of 6:21.818, just over two seconds behind first-place No. 24 North Carolina and ahead of Miami (6:22.32), SMU (6:24.96), Notre Dame (6:27.87) and Boston College (6:30.13)

"As a team, we set out with the goal of narrowing the margins against our ACC rivals that we faced at the Lake Wheeler Invite," said Kunz. "This group was driven by more than just closing gaps, we strived to exceed expectations, and I believe that determination was clearly reflected in our performance this weekend. It's hard to see big jumps of progress when competing against some of the nation's top crews, but the pressure of being in these tight races is a privilege and I couldn't be more proud of how this team showed up. I'm looking forward to getting back to work in the fall and continuing our climb up the ranks."

Louisville's Second Varsity Eight boat placed third in a tightly-contested Petite Final as Mackenna Billington guided Grace Rodebaugh, Lexi Bernard, Bradlie Hicks, Madeline Giron, Gabriella Allen, Donata Elez, Mary Noschang and Lauren Stedry to a time of 6:31.850, good for a third-place finish after being edged by Clemson (6:31.234) and finishing 1.413 seconds behind Notre Dame which won with a time of 6:30.437).

The Cards' Second Varsity Four boat also posted a third-place showing in another tight Petite Final. With Cecilia Kern coxing, Angels Ventura Rodriguez, Stella Mancini, Bria Ragauckas and Neala Marshall, Louisville clocked in at 7:29.904, just over a second behind Miami (7:28.694) and 4.5 second behind first-place Clemson.

"I am so proud of the work we have done to get to this point," said Neala Marshall. "This season brought a lot of adversity that we had to overcome. As a senior this was my favorite ACC's because of how we grew from this adversity and I'm grateful to know that I was a part of developing this program. I cannot wait to see what the team continues to accomplish in the next years."

The Varsity Four and Third Varsity Eight boats each registered a sixth-place finish in their respective Petite Finals. Overall, the Cardinals finished 10^th totaling 39 points in the championship.

ACC Rowing Championship – Saturday Results
Clemson, S.C. | Lake Hartwell
Third Varsity Eight – Petite Final
1 – Duke (6:38.475); 2 – SMU (6:43.282; 3 – Clemson (6:47.045); 4 – Miami (6:48.725); 5 – Boston College (6:52.342); 6 – Louisville (6:59.909)

Second Varsity Four – Petite Final
1 – Clemson (7:25.354); 2 – Miami (7:28.64); 3 – Louisville (7:29.904); 4 – Notre Dame (7:32.654); 5 – Boston College (7:38.001); 6 – SMU (7:557.854)

Varsity Four – Petite Final
1 - Virginia (7:13.476); 2 – Notre Dame (7:20.436); 3 – SMU (7:20.656); 4 – Boston College (7:21.059); 5 – Miami (7:30.646); 6 – Louisville (7:31.526)

Second Varsity Eight – Petite Final
1 – Notre Dame (6:30.437); 2 – Clemson (6:31.234); 3- Louisville (6:31.850; 4 – North Carolina (6:32.827); 5 – Miami (6:38.464); 6 – Boston College (6:51.314)

First Varsity Eight – Petite Final
1 – North Carolina (6:19.438); 2 – Louisville (6:21.818); 3 – Miami (6:22.325); 4 – SMU (6:24.965); 5 – Notre Dame (6:27.878); 6 – Boston College (6:30.135)

Team Scores
1. Stanford – 132
2. Virginia – 106
3. Syracuse – 104
4. California – 102
5. Duke – 89
6. North Carolina – 68
7. Clemson – 67
8. SMU – 50*
9. Notre Dame – 50
10. Louisville – 39
11. Miami – 34
12. Boston College – 17
* - SMU won the tiebreaker over Notre Dame based on highest team score among NCAA scoring races (V8, 2V8 & V4).

Louisville Lineups
Varsity Eight
Coxswain: Olivia Guarnaccia
8 – Isabella Ulloa
7 – Macy Whisenand
6 – Kaylie Leonard
5 – Taylor Fausey
4 – Claire Carver-Ritter
3 – Emma Bell
2 – Clara Jane Van Dyk
1 – Haley Kunz

Second Varsity Eight
Coxswain: Mackenna Billington
8- Grace Rodebaugh
7 – Lexi Bernard
6 – Bradlie Hicks
5 – Madeline Giron
4 – Gabriella Allen
3 – Donata Elez
2 – Mary Noschang
1 – Lauren Stedry

Third Varsity Eight
Coxswain: Madelyn Pleune
8 - Ali Matthews
7 – Olivia Koproski
6 – Kate Eisenbeis
5 – Alana Cureton
4 – Lexi Schneider
3 – Keira Krebs
2 – Claudia Smith
1 – Margot Kaufman

Varsity Four
4- Graycen West
3 – Cierra Chavez
2 – Emilie Moreira
1 – Ellie Fazio
Coxswain – Leah Watters

Second Varsity Four
4 – Angels Ventura Rodriguez
3 – Stella Mancini
2 – Bria Ragauckas
1 – Neala Marshall
Coxswain: Cecilia Kern