Five Lady Vols Earn CRCA All-America Honors

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Coming off a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships, five Lady Vols have been recognized by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) on its 2026 Division I All-America teams, the organization announced Friday.

Meg Flanagan, Taryn Graves, Alex Pidgeon and Hannah Smith each garnered first-team honors, while Hannah Richardson earned second-team recognition. The five All-America selections tie the program record for a single season, matching the five honorees Tennessee produced in 2024. Over the last three seasons, UT has collected 14 All-America honors, the most over any three-year span in program history.

The five athletes played a key role in Tennessee's third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Competing in the First Varsity Eight, the group placed third in the Grand Final with a time of 5:51.450. The Lady Vols capped another historic season by tying their program-best finish, placing third with 119 points at the NCAA Championships. Tennessee has now finished among the nation's top five teams in each of the last three seasons, continuing the most successful stretch in program history.

Flanagan earned first-team All-America honors for the second time in her career and collected her third overall All-America recognition. Pidgeon secured first-team All-America honors for the second consecutive season, while Graves, Richardson and Smith each received All-America recognition for the first time.

All five rowers were also named to the All-SEC Rowing Team, with Flanagan earning SEC Rower of the Year honors. The group helped lead Tennessee to its first conference championship since 2012 and captured the gold medal in the First Varsity Eight at the SEC Championships.

The CRCA selects 20 rowers and three coxswains for both its first and second teams, while also recognizing an additional 10 rowers and one coxswain as honorable mention All-Americans. The honor recognizes student-athletes who have contributed to their teams' success through excellence in competition and training. The All-America teams also serve as the foundation for selecting the Athlete of the Year finalists and eventual recipient.

CRCA All-America Teams

First Team
Laoise O'Donohue, Princeton
Ella Casano, Stanford
Mathilda Drewett, Stanford
Nora Goodwillie, Stanford
Annika Jeffery, Stanford
Quincy Stone, Stanford
Ella Wheeler, Cal
Meg Flanagan, Tennessee
Taryn Graves, Tennessee
Alex Pidgeon, Tennessee
Hannah Smith, Tennessee
Maya Meschkuleit, Texas
Lucy Searle, Texas
Marg van der Wal, Texas
Amy Werner, Texas
Phoebe Wise, Texas
Elsa Hartman, Virginia
Paula Lutz, Virginia
Skylar Morrison, Virginia
Aisha Rocek, Washington
Christina Bourmpou, Yale
Harriet Drake-Lee, Yale
Nicole Martinez, Yale

Second Team
Sadie Bell, Brown
Mary Claire Warren, Brown
Rhianna Loughnan, Oregon State
Lindsay Sauders, Princeton
Joely Cherniss, Princeton
Eleanor Smith, Princeton
Chiara Saccomando, Rutgers
Lily Wood, Rutgers
Acorn Cassidy, Syracuse
Ellie-Kate Hutchinson, Syracuse
Katia Ustiuzhanina, Syracuse
Amelia Boes, Ohio State
Paige Guggenbiller, Ohio State
Minou Bouman, Cal
Olivia Roth, Cal
Annika Goodwyn, San Diego
Hannah Richardson, Tennessee
Flynn Greene, Virginia
Brie Joe, Virginia
Violet Holbrow-Brooksbank, Washington
Jess Weir, Washington
Imogen Cabot, Yale
Hope Galusha, Yale

Honorable Mention
Holly Crews, Brown
Emily Bukowski, Columbia
Maddie Kieft, Michigan State
Heather Taylor, Northeastern
Elena Moran, Rutgers
Auguste Sablinskaite, UCLA
Brigitte Kappler, UCF
Esther Fuerte Chacón, Miami
Madeleine Lauriault, Michigan
Lexi Schimnowski, Minnesota
Izzy Michaelson, Washington

University of Tennessee Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Meg Flanagan

Taryn Graves

Alex Pidgeon

Hannah Richardson

Hannah Smith

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