IRVING, Texas – SMU’s Second Varsity 8 has been named the 2022 American Athletic Conference Boat of the Year, while Tulsa’s Anna Shaw has been selected as The American’s Newcomer of the Year.
 
The honors were voted on by the league’s head coaches.
 
SMU’s 2V8 helped the Mustangs win their second-straight American Athletic Conference Championship by winnings its race in a time of 6:41.584, almost 13 seconds ahead of second-place UCF (6:54.387) on May 15 at Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The SMU crew consisted of coxswain Addison Iliria, Sophie Hill, Sydney Suntrup, Victoria Franklin, Amy Salesky, Gracie Condon, Claire Murphy, Sarah Abrams and Anne Ensley.
 
Franklin and Suntrup were honored on the All-American Athletic Conference Second Team.
 
The SMU crew went on to the 2022 NCAA Championships and finished 10^th overall, a second-straight top-10 finish for SMU in the Second Varsity 8.
 
Shaw spent time in the Golden Hurricane’s Varsity 8 throughout the 2021-22 season, helping Tulsa finish third at the conference championships. The freshman from Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom aided the Golden Hurricane’s V8 to a second-place finish at the Head of the Oklahoma and third at the Sunshine State Invitational, all while holding a 3.8 GPA in chemistry.