Marietta women’s crew joins new Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference
Regional rowing schools combine to form nine-team league

Jan. 20, 2009
CHESTERTOWN, Md. — Tuesday (Jan. 20) morning marked a historic day for the Marietta College women’s rowing program, as it became a charter member of the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC). Intercollegiate rowing programs at nine NCAA Division III institutions formed the MARC, which will sponsor a conference championship in both women's and men's rowing beginning in 2009. [MARC web site]

Bryn Mawr College, Franklin & Marshall College, Johns Hopkins University, Marietta College, the University of Mary Washington, North Park University, the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Rutgers University-Camden (N.J.) and Washington College are the founding members of the conference and will compete for the MARC Championship in women's rowing. Seven of the nine schools (all but Bryn Mawr and Marietta) will also compete for the MARC Championship in men's rowing.

The conference was formed, in part, to formalize the relationship between the rowing programs at the nine charter member schools, which, for the past two years, have held an annual regatta called the Mid-Atlantic Division III Rowing Championships at Gifford Pinchot State Park in northern York County, Pa. That regatta was the descendant of an earlier regatta known as the Atlantic Collegiate League Sprints Championships. The regatta will henceforth be known as the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championships and the first-ever MARC Championships will be held at Gifford Pinchot on Saturday, April 25, 2009.

Competing in the MARC will afford rowers at the nine charter member schools the same opportunities already available to many of their peer student-athletes, including the potential of receiving All-Conference honors and the chance to compete for a Conference Championship.

“This is a very good step in the direction for possible future automatic qualifiers to the NCAA D-III Championships for Women's Rowing,” Marietta Head Coach Kelly Harris said. “More importantly, given the fact that women's rowing is not represented in the OAC like other sports at Marietta, this is a great opportunity to compete for a true Conference title!”

Marietta opens its season at the Mayor’s Cup in Tampa, Fla., on March 14. The Pioneers will host the Marietta Invitational, its only home event, on April 4.

Notes: Contributions to this story were made by Phil Ticknor, Washington College Sports Information Director.