Wellesley's Spillane Earns Seventh NEWMAC Rowing Coach of the Year Honor

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) announced the 2018 Rowing Coach of the Year on Thursday morning and after leading the Blue to their eighth consecutive conference title and their ninth straight trip to the NCAA Championships, Wellesley College Head Coach Tessa Spillane has been voted as the 2018 NEWMAC Rowing Coach of the Year.

The most decorated coach in conference history, the honor is the seventh all-time for Spillane and her fifth in the last five years. Wellesley swept all four races at the NEWMAC Championship regatta for the second time in the last three seasons to earn the Florence Jope Smith Cup, awarded annually to the school with the highest number of points from the overall results at the NEWMAC Championship.

Wellesley's victory in the Second and Varsity Eight Races helped punch the team's ticket to the NCAA Division III Championships later this month in Sarasota, Fla. Also the 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 NEWMAC Coach of the Year, Spillane has helped to guide the Blue to top-three finishes in each of the last three NCAA Championships, include the national title in 2016. 

The Blue swept this year's NEWMAC major awards as senior Kelsey Campbell (Broomfield, Colo.) was named NEWMAC Rower of the Year and senior Sydney Stento (Boise, Idaho) was named NEWMAC Coxswain of the Year following the NEMWAC Championship Regatta last weekend in Worcester. 

Wellesley returns to the water this weekend for the New England Rowing Championships on Lake Quinsigamond. Click here for spectator information for this weekend's regatta.