Knights rowing sets a course for NCAA Championships

When Mara Allen took over as coach of the UCF rowing program in 2023, she believed it wouldn't be long before the Knights would taste success.

"I remember saying if we ever get top 15 (at the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships), I’ll never ask for anything else," Allen recently told the Orlando Sentinel. "Then, when we got 15th and a week after the NCAA's, it was like ‘Okay, what's next?' There was no sense of ‘Okay, we did it. Great. Now, let’s see if we can do that again.'

"We’re going to make the goal even higher, because that’s the whole point. We’re going to keep pushing and keep trying to do bigger and better. There’s no reason we can’t be great here."

Since Allen's arrival, the Knights have pushed for bigger and better things.

UCF is fresh off its second consecutive Big 12 Championship on May 17, with the team sweeping all five races for a commanding 20-point victory over Kansas (61), Tulsa (53), West Virginia (36), Old Dominion (26) and Kansas State (20).

The showing earned Allen, 39, her second Big 12 Coach of the Year award last Thursday, while Brigitte Kappler was named Rower of the Year and Madison Lovejoy was named Newcomer of the Year.

"It feels so nice to be recognized, but at the same time, that’s not what we’re here to do," said Allen, whose career accomplishments include winning four national championships as a rower and an assistant coach at Texas.

"It’s fun and it feels really nice, but ultimately this is for them (the athletes), this is something they want to accomplish and we hope to give them an environment where they can be challenged and pushed, so that they are prepared to compete at the level that they want to compete."

Capturing the Big 12 title also helped UCF secure a spot in the NCAA Championship, which begins on Friday at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Ga. It's the eighth time the Knights have qualified for the NCAA Championship and the second under Allen.

UCF hasn't finished higher than its 15th-place finish last season in its previous eight appearances in the 22-team event.

"The NCAA's are pretty different than all the other days because we don’t need to get the same work in that you do throughout the season," Allen said of this week's preparation. "But the hope is that it can feel as normal as possible all the way through the finals.

"They know it’s bigger, but once they start the race, hopefully they're like this is just what I do now and that takes over. They're not overthinking it. So keeping them out of their heads is important."

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Allen understands the challenge her teams face this week, particularly against a field that includes a pair of newcomers in the Miami Hurricanes and Columbia Lions, who are making their first-ever appearance in the National Championships.

Also among the contenders is Stanford, which is looking to make it back-to-back championships after claiming the title last season.

The field also includes previous national championship programs such as Texas, Washington, California, Ohio State, Virginia and Brown.

"It’s definitely going to be very hard and there’s a real chance we’re out of the top 15," Allen said of the competition this weekend. "It's a tight group of a lot of very hungry teams, so we're taking nothing for granted. We're going to do everything we can to get after it. That's all we can ask of our athletes and that's all we can ask of ourselves.

"A big thing going into this is that we can’t be scared to not get what we want. We can’t be worried about the what-ifs; what if we don’t? What if we do? Let’s focus on that, because we can’t really control what other people are going to do anyway."

Up next …

NCAA Division I Women’s Rowing Championships

When: Friday-Sunday

Where: Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Ga.

TV:NCAA.com

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel's Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 11:38 AM.