Women’s Varsity 4 crew rows to silver medal finish at ACRA nationals

Friday, May 15

Oak Ridge, TN

Liberty University Club Sports

ACRA Championships

ACRA Nationals Varsity 4 silver medalists

The Lady Flames' Women's Varsity 4 rowers (from left) Mary Mae Bailey, Rebecca Couric, coxswain Annalise Benjamin, Liza Perdew, and Grace Cornell earned silver medals. (Photo by Allie Reed)

Women’s Varsity 4 crew rows to silver medal finish at ACRA nationals

5/19/2026 10:40:00 AM | Rowing

Liberty also entered a fourth-place Women’s pair and a 10th-place Women’s Novice 8 boat at the season-ending regatta in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Women's Varsity 4 stoked on from lakeside edge — Families, friends, and fans cheer on Liberty's Women's Varsity 4 as they row past them on Melton Hill Lake. (Photo by Amy Breuscher)

A year after capturing a gold medal in the Women's Novice 4 race, the same five members of that crew struck silver in the much faster Women's Varsity 4 event at Sunday's ACRA National Championships final at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The Lady Flames' lineup of rowers Mary Bailey, Rebecca Couric, Liza Perdew, and Grace Cornell and coxswain Anna Benjamin rowed to a second-place time of 7 minutes, 47.79 seconds in the Grand Final of the 2,000-meter race. That was less than two seconds behind the winning boat from Lafayette (Pa.) College that crossed the finish line in 7:45.54.

Women's Novice 8 boat rows off dock — Liberty's Women's Novice 8 placed 10th out of 14 entries. (Photo by Debbie Prowse)

"It was not quite a full boat length (from a gold medal)," Liberty Head Coach Debbie Prowse said. "The girls gave it everything they had. We had not raced (Lafayette) yet this year but knew it was going to be a close race based on past results. With (third-place) Grand Valley also in the race, there was a lot of fun racing, and the girls did a tremendous job. It was great to be in that national field and see how we stacked up."

This year's ACRA Championships featured 397 entries from 84 club programs from across the United States. Prowse said the Women's Varsity 4 is one of the most competitive at nationals, with the Lady Flames finishing second out of a total of 23 entries, which started in four heats.

"It's a whole new ballgame when you go from novice to varsity," Prowse said. "All the competition at nationals is tough, but varsity is definitely a different level. To beat 21 boats is quite an accomplishment, and it came down to 2.25 seconds."

Liberty qualified in 8:09.749 — behind Virginia and Georgia but ahead of Loyola — to advance to the semifinal heat on Saturday. In that race, Liberty finished first in 7:42.4 to reach the Grand Final.
Bailey and Perdew were both selected to the ACRA All-Region team, nominated by coaches as strong rowers who they believe represent their team and the sport of rowing best.

Bailey, Perdew, and Cornell are rising seniors while Couric, who completed her degree in December, and Benjamin missed this past weekend's Commencement Exercises at Liberty to compete in the biggest regatta of their collegiate careers.

"They decided if they qualified for nationals, they would miss Commencement and go to nationals," Prowse said. "They have been practicing all year and all season this semester as they made that push for nationals, so they had that in their sight."

Couric is now in graduate school and plans to return to the team in the fall semester, along with Perdew and Cornell. Besides Benjamin, Sunday's Grand Final was also the last race for Bailey, who will be finishing her student teaching in the fall to complete her degree.

Women's fourth-place pair — Allie Reed (left) and Alayna Degan formed the Womens 2 pair.

The two members of Liberty's Women's 2, seniors Allie Reed and Alayna Degan, had qualified for ACRA nationals with a third-place finish at the SIRA regional races at the same site, but weren't planning to compete due to the conflict with Commencement.

"Their major's (degree presentation) ceremony was Thursday night and they both decided they would go to that and drive down to Oak Ridge that night and race on Friday morning," Prowse said, noting they arrived around midnight and were able to get a decent night's sleep before rowing in their qualifying race at 9:26 a.m. Friday, finishing first in their heat.

"They went on to the semifinals on Saturday at 9:04 a.m., and had to get into the three to advance to the Grand Final," Prowse said, noting the pair finished third behind boats from the University of Virginia and Texas, beating out Lafayette's pair by approximately five seconds to reach Sunday's Grand Final race at 9:23 a.m.

The two Lady Flames went on to finish fourth in 8:40.5, behind boats from Virginia (8:16.6), William & Mary (8:23.8), and Texas (8:28.7), but ahead of Oklahoma State (8:44.66) and the University of Cincinnati (8:55.1). Overall, they landed in the top 25 percent of the 16 entries.

"They were very happy with that because that is something they had worked for all year," Prowse said. "When you put all that time and energy into a sport, your teammates are like a family, and it was a major part of their collegiate experience. They wanted to have that one last race on a national level. It was a big decision to make, but I think it was well worth it for them."

Liberty also competed in the Women's Novice 8, finishing 10th out of 14 boats in the field. That boat featured Ashlyn Leininger at coxswain and rowers Olivia Henderson, Lily Connor, Gabrielle Buckles, Lauren Norton, Claire Black, McKenny Reynolds, Angelique Buntin, and Sarah Gassman.

Complete results are available online.

Reynolds' parents grilled out lunches for all 16 team members and for Prowse and Assistant Coach Amy Breuscher on both Friday and Saturday at the regatta.

"We had a lot of parental support there," Prowse said. "Every girl in that Varsity 4 had at least one family member on hand, so we had a really great cheering section."

Prowse thanked former Senior Vice President of Auxiliary Services Lee Beaumont, a proponent of Liberty's Club Sports department, for approving in 2018 the funding for the boat rowed by the Women's Varsity 4 team in the Grand Final. Back then, the team named it in Beaumont's honor, and this year's team called him to thank him for approving its purchase.

"It is important to have the proper equipment," Prowse said. "Not a lot of schools get that support from their university. Liberty wants us to do well and makes traveling as easy as possible."

With the toll of graduation, the team will lose nine seniors — six women and three men — and has only two men's rowers returning.

"We're always recruiting, building the team," Prowse said, noting she and returning team members will be at various sites on campus for the Aug. 20-21 first-year students move-in days. They will host their informational meeting Aug. 25 at the Hancock Welcome Center and tryouts on Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. in the rowing team's erg room at the Liberty Club Sports Complex.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer