By: Jeff Evans, Assistant AD for Athletic Communications
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Led by senior Taylor Wall being selected as the co-Rower of the Year, the Western Washington University women's rowing team had six student-athletes earn awards on the 2026 GNAC Rowing All-Conference Team.
Wall was a first-team selection for the second consecutive season and shared the top rowing honor with Elizabeth Walters of Cal Poly Humboldt. Wall has been a powerhouse in the Vikings Varsity 8+ that won the GNAC title and enters the NCAA Championships having won its last five races. Positioned in the six-seat for most of the season, Wall will transition into the stroke seat for nationals this weekend in Georgia with the Vikings aiming for their 10th NCAA Division II team title.
Sophomore Emilie Borberg was voted the GNAC Newcomer of the Year as a key member of the Vikings Varsity 8+ throughout the 2026 season. Borberg is a transfer from Carthage College where she played one season of collegiate soccer at the NCAA Division III level.
2026 GNAC Rowing All-Conference Awards:
First Team All-GNAC selections included senior coxswain Kylie Lovrich, junior rower Sarah Plemons, sophomore rower Isabelle Mullick and senior rower Lex Clark.
Wall adds the GNAC Freshman of the Year honor she received in 2023 and becomes the second Viking to earn the highest GNAC honor joining Mia Marie Knipe in 2024. Borberg became the third Viking to capture the GNAC Newcomer of the Year award, joining 2024 selection Kate Baring and 2023 winner Jenae Pusich.
The Vikings won the GNAC Championships title with a perfect team score of 30 points, earning the gold medal in the Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+.
The No. 1 nationally ranked Vikings compete Friday and Saturday in the 2026 NCAA Division II Rowing Championships at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Georgia.
WWU Rowing is one of the elite collegiate rowing programs in the country across all divisions, having won nine NCAA Division II National Championships. The Vikings won the 2024 NCAA II National title, the 2017 title, placed 2nd in 2018, 3rd in 2019 and runner-up in 2022. WWU has competed in the NCAA Championships in 22 of the 24 NCAA Division II national regattas, taking home the gold (9 times), silver (5 times) and bronze (6) medal 20 times in the 23 years the NCAA Division II team title has been awarded, and reached the podium 20 times. Western won seven consecutive DII national championships from 2005-2011.
WWU Rowing Inside the Numbers:
22 – NCAA II Rowing Championship Appearances (out of 24)
16 – Individual Championships (Eights-7, Fours-9)
9 – National Championships (2005-11, 2017, 2024)
6 – 3rd Place Finishes at Nationals
5 – National Runner-Up Finishes
3 – GNAC Championships (in 6-year history of event)
