KINGSTON, R.I. – July 22, 2025 – After a successful season that included strong showings at two of the biggest regattas in collegiate rowing, the University of Rhode Island’s club crew team closed out 2024–25 with an All-American selection for the fourth consecutive season in addition to a handful of regional award-winners.

Junior Carly Tier earned American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Second Team All-American honors, joining two-time honoree Shannon Gerspach (2024 and 2023), John Mannion (2022), Carl Neff (2017), and Joe Martinez (2017) as one of five All-American selections in the program’s history.

A Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, native, Tier was also one of four Rams to earn ACRA All-Northeast Region honors alongside junior Raymond Chichalski and seniors David Canavan and Chris Grivers. Sixth-year head coach Tim Nesselrodt earned ACRA Northeast Region Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season.

“While these awards are meaningful, what matters most to me is the support behind them,” Tier said. “I’m incredibly grateful to both my teammates and my coaches – their guidance and encouragement have shaped me into a stronger athlete and better person.

“I am especially grateful for the girls I rowed with in our freshman four, Evyn Anderson, Riley Eldridge, and Santana Walter. We experienced our first taste of victory together, and sharing the past three years with them has made every moment since then even more meaningful.”

ACRA is one of three governing bodies for collegiate rowing in the United States, overseeing more than 120 club crew programs in six regions. All varsity crew programs – including URI’s men’s and women’s varsity rowing teams – compete in either the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or International Rowing Association (IRA).

“We’re defined as a club, but we operate, move, and act as a varsity program. That’s how we conduct ourselves,” Nesselrodt said. “Our rowers put in a ton of work and in a lot of ways almost have to work harder than their varsity equivalents because a lot of those student athletes are paid to be there through scholarships and gear packages. Our rowers pay to be here, fundraise, and train at the caliber of a Division I athlete. They continue to step up year after year.”

As an All-American selection, Tier finished 2024–25 as one of the top 24 rowers in the nation, continuing a remarkable career at URI that includes a women’s small boat national championship at the 2023 ACRAs alongside teammates Riley Eldridge, Evyn Anderson, Santana Walters, and coxswain Ben Stamm.

This past season, Tier and women’s coxswain Grivers led URI’s women’s varsity eight crew, which made history in the fall by becoming the program’s first women’s eight to qualify two years in a row for the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston, the world’s largest three-day regatta that attracts more than 11,000 competitors annually and includes both varsity and club teams. In addition to a fifth-place finish at the season-opening Head of the Snake regatta in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts in the fall, the women’s varsity eight closed out the academic year with a strong spring, finishing first at the Patriot Cup in Connecticut; second at the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta in Cherry Hill, New Jersey (the third year in a row the women have medaled at the Vails); and eight at the ACRA National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be surrounded by dedicated athletes who continuously push one another to be the best version of themselves,” Tier said. “I’m also thankful to have held a seat in the women’s eight for the past two years, surrounded by powerful women whose drive and resilience are truly inspiring. Rowing at URI has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my college experience, and I’m proud to be a part of a team that feels more like a community. As I head into my senior year, I’m excited to continue building on everything we’ve accomplished so far and help set the team up for continued success. Hopefully, it can mean as much to others as it has meant to me.”

Chichalski of Tenafly, New Jersey, and Canavan of Cumberland, Rhode Island, led the men’s varsity eight crew, which finished fourth at the Jefferson Dad Vail and competed in the Head of the Charles and the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship Regatta, also in Tennessee.

“One of the big pushes we’ve made in recent years is to be more competitive in the eights,” Nesselrodt said. “Historically, we’ve done well in the fours. We’ve won national titles in the men’s heavyweight varsity four and the women’s novice four. Now we’re starting to become more competitive in the eights and have really made a nice climb over the past couple of years.

“It’s a new push and a bigger challenge, but if you don’t have everyone on the same page, you won’t see the kind of progress we’ve seen. Our rowers have really answered the bell.”