Five Cavaliers Named First-Team All-Americans

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-Five members of the NCAA Champion Virginia rowing team, including senior coxswain Sidney Thorsten (Atlanta, Ga.), seniors Keziah Beall (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), Sarah Cowburn (Worcestershire, England), Martha Kuzzy (Minneapolis, Minn.) and junior Kristine O’Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y.), have been named Pocock First-Team All-Americans, the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) announced Monday (June 4).

The quintet was part of the First Varsity Eight that clinched the NCAA Championship for the Cavalier team when it crossed the line first in the 1V8 Grand Final on May 27. They were also a part of the ACC Crew of the Year and were named to the All-ACC squad. Beall, Kuzzy, O’Brien and Thorsten were named to the 2012 CRCA All-South Region First Team, while Cowburn was listed on the second team.

It was the first time the Virginia First Varsity Eight won a national title and was the eighth UVa boat overall to claim a national crown. The Second Varsity Eight won in 1998, 1999 and 2005, while the Varsity Four finished first in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010. The national team title was UVa’s second in three years, with the Cavaliers also raising the 2010 trophy.

This is O’Brien’s second consecutive first-team selection, while Thorsten was a second-team All-American in 2010. The five Cavaliers this year matches 2010 as the most Virginia rowing All-Americans in one season, but that year UVa had three on the first team and two on the second.