Madeline Burke and David Bovich of Verona have been honored as scholar athletes for their work on the women’s and men’s rowing teams at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Burke, who graduated Verona High School with the class of 2015, was one of 11 WPI women’s rowers to earn Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) National Scholar-Athlete status. Student athletes must have a 3.5 cumulative GPA or higher for their career and have rowed in the school’s NCAA or IRA eligible boat for at least 75% of the current spring races, among other criteria. Burke was also named to the National Invitational Rowing Championships (NIRC) All-Academic Team, where student athletes must have a cumulative GPA of 3.35 and be recognized as a varsity letter winner.
WPI women’s rowing enjoyed a top 10 season and finished with its best CRCA/USRowing Coaches Association final ranking since 2013. The Varsity and Second Varsity Eight was also regionally ranked at the end of the season for the first time in program history under 18th-year head coach Jason Steele.
Bovich, a sophomore at WPI who graduated from St. Peter’s Prep, was also named to NIRC’s All-Academic Team. WPI men’s rowing achieved the program’s first New England title in 38 years and a bronze medal for NIRC Coach of the Year Larry Noble, who has been leading the Engineers since the program was elevated to varsity status 18 years ago.
