PHILADELPHIA – The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) has announced its 2022-23 All-America teams in women's rowing, and the University of Pennsylvania was honored to have a record four women earn the recognition. In fact, prior to this season just seven Penn women in total had been named All-America.
 
Recent graduates Josie Konopka and Samy Morton were named first-team All-America, while recently graduated coxswain Sophia Poersch and rising senior Catherine Moore both received second-team recognition.
 
Konopka and Morton are just the second and third Penn rowers to earn first-team CRCA All-America honors; the first was Maura Kelley back in 2006. This is also the first time the Quakers have had two women earn second-team All-America honors; prior to this year, the program had one athlete named in 2007 (Valerie Hutchins), 2011 (Rebecca Donald), 2018 (Regina Salmons), and 2022 (Morton).
 
Each year the coaches of the CRCA recognize the outstanding student athletes in each Division. Criteria for the award include:

• The student-athlete must meet all eligibility rules as defined by her institution.
• The student-athlete must have rowed at least 75% of the season's races in the varsity boat
• The student-athlete must be nominated by her institution
• The Head Coach of the student-athlete's institution must be a member in good standing of the CRCA

All-American athletes are selected from those athletes already named first-team all-conference. Criteria considered for selection include: boat performance, nomination rank, coach's comments, individual achievements, and 2k erg score. One coxswain is named to each team.
 
Penn enjoyed another historic season in 2022-23, making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Championship and finishing sixth overall with the Varsity Eight making it to the grand final before finishing fourth. The Quakers also made their debut at both the Henley Women's and Henley Royal Regtta, with the Varsity Eight making it all the way to the final of the Island Challenge Cup where they fell to the reigning British University & College Sport (BUCS) champion Oxford Brookes. Head coach Wesley Ng was named Ivy League and CRCA Region I Coach of the Year, while the staff of Ng and assistant coaches Kumari Lewis and Helen Samaniego were the CRCA Region I Staff of the Year.