The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 3 Rowing places three on CRCA’s Athletes to Watch list
02.17.2026 | Rowing
Seniors Maya Meschkuleit, Marg Van der Wal and Amy Werner were selected to the preseason watch list.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 3 Texas Rowing seniors Maya Meschkuleit, Marg Van der Wal and Amy Werner were named to the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's (CRCA) Athletes to Watch list, the organization announced Tuesday.
Van der Wal and Werner were integral pieces in Texas' 2025 First Varsity Eight, powering the Longhorns to a third-place finish at the 2025 NCAA National Championships. Under their leadership, Texas collected its eighth-consecutive top-four finish at the national regatta. The I Eight recorded a podium finish on June 1, 2025, placing third in 6:09.848. With their efforts, the UT First Eight has posted a podium finish in six of the last seven NCAA Championships. In the final race of the national meet, the I Eight battled hard to seal Texas' third-place team finish. Van der Wal and Werner also helped Texas capture the first-ever SEC Rowing Championship after throwing down a clutch, come-from-behind performance to win the I Eight and clinch the conference title. Texas extended its conference championship winning streak to 10-straight while winning the program's 14 overall conference crown.
It marks the second-consecutive year in which Van der Wal landed on the CRCA's Athletes to Watch list. The Groningen, Netherlands, native returns for her senior year in 2026 after being selected as a finalist for the CRCA's Athlete of the Year in 2025. A two-time CRCA First-Team All-American, Van der Wal was instrumental in Texas' 2025 SEC Championship and third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. In addition to being named a 2025 finalist for the CRCA's Athlete of the Year, Van der Wal was also named a CRCA First-Team All-American, SEC Rower of the Year, SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, First-Team All-SEC and SEC Rower of the Week (April 16). Van der Wal is the 11th Longhorn in program history to be selected to the All-America First Team multiple times. Over the summer, Van der Wal and Texas teammate Ilva Boone (Netherlands 2-) won gold in the Women's Pair at the U-23 World Championships in Poland.
Werner was named a 2025 CRCA First-Team All-America selection for the first time in her career. Werner also garnered First-Team All-SEC recognition last season as well.
Meschkuleit transferred to Texas from Yale during summer 2025. It marks her second-consecutive season being named to the CRCA's Athletes to Watch list. The Mississauga, Ontario, native was a 2025 National Champion in the First Varsity Eight for the Bulldogs and sat in the three-seat of that boat, setting a championship-record time of 6:06.138. Meschkuleit earned CRCA First-Team All-America honors and Second-Team All-Ivy League accolades in 2025. She sat in the seven seat of the Varsity Eight that won a silver medal at the Ivy League Championship. She brings a plethora of international experience to the Forty Acres after rowing for Team Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics and earning a silver medal in the Coxed Eight. She made her debut for the Canadian Eight at the 2024 Rowing World Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland, guiding Canada to a gold medal. She competed at the senior World Rowing Championships for the first time in 2023, racing to a sixth-place finish in the C final of the pair with Caileigh Filmer.
Texas opens the season at the San Diego Crew Classic on March 28-29, which is regarded as America's premier spring regatta. Racing is held in Mission Bay Park on the shores of Fiesta Bay-Crown Point. More information on the San Diego Crew Classic will be provided at a later date.
Players Mentioned
