East Michigan News

Eastern Michigan University rowing Head Coach Kemp Savage and EMU student-athlete Lily Wilhelm led the United States women's eights boat to a gold medal at the World University Championships, held from July 3-6 at Willem-Alexander Baan in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Savage served as Head Coach while Wilhelm rowed in seat three. The American V8 completed the race in 6:21.64, narrowly edging out Italy's time of 6:22.31 to secure the gold medal. Canada finished with a bronze medal, clocking in at 6:25.78.

"Winning is hard to put into words," Savage stated. "They raced so maturely and even though for a lot of them it was their first international competition, they just went out and rowed."

The American team advanced directly to the final on July 6 by winning their heat race on July 4, thereby avoiding an additional race on July 5.

"I did not know we won until we literally crossed the finish line," Wilhelm remarked. "I was happy to even go and have the opportunity, but to win was just so exciting."

The team trained on Ford Lake from June 5-30 before heading to Rotterdam for the competition. The World University Championships took place at Willem-Alexander Baan, which opened in 2012 and hosted the World Championships in 2016.

Savage previously coached the U.S. squad at the World University Championships in Shanghai, China, in 2018, where he led the US V8+ to a bronze medal and saw other placements including fifth for V4+ and eleventh for lightweight-double sculls.

Wilhelm has been a key member of EMU's varsity eight boat over the past two seasons and earned All-Coastal Athletic Association honors in 2023.

Final results:

1. United States - 6:21.64

2. Italy – 6:22.31

3. Canada – 6:25.78

4. Germany – 6:29.19

5. India – 7:01.43

6. Norway – 7:05.40

Heat race results:

1. United States - 6:52.97

2. Canada – 6:54.73

3. Netherlands – 6:56.96

4. Germany – 6:59.96

5 Italy –7:02 .73

6 Norway–7 :30 .26

7 India–7 :32 .48

USA Boat:

Head Coach Kemp Savage

Bow Jordan Hyde

2 Ava Tine

3 Lily Wilhelm

4 Elisa Faiola

5 Avery Ericksen

6 Gabrielle Graves

7 Ingrid Lofgren

Stroke Amanda Triebensee

Cox Nicole Carpentiere

For more information on Eastern Michigan rowing, visit EMUEagles.com or follow the team's official Twitter at Twitter.com/EMURowing, Facebook at Facebook.com/emurowing, and Instagram at Instagram.com/emurowing.

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