Emily Regan '10 Inducted into National Rowing Hall of Fame

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State alumna Emily Regan (Buffalo, NY) was recently inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was held in conjunction with the Head of the Charles Regatta on October 17.

The National Rowing Foundation honored the United States women's eights from 2013-2016; Regan was a member of three of those four crews, all of which captured gold medals at the World Championships (2013, 2015) and the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Emily Regan Cropped

Regan's ascension into the rare air of an Olympic gold medalist had humble beginnings, when she enrolled at Michigan State in the fall of 2006. The Buffalo, NY native had been a basketball player and ran track in high school. At the urging of her parents, she tried out for the rowing program that fall after seeing a flyer at AOP orientation.

"It's probably a very different feeling for me than a lot of the others," Regan said at the time of her MSU Hall of Fame induction. "I literally started and learned my sport at Michigan State. That was the start of it all for me. I would not have had the opportunities or career I enjoyed if it were not for that first year at Michigan State where the coaches – specifically novice coach Christiina Tymoszewicz Donley – taught me how to row, saw some potential in me, and stayed on me to be my best."

While maybe improbable in that fall of 2006, Regan went on not only to make the team, but also to excel – she graduated in 2010 a three-time Big Ten Champion in the varsity eight, helped the Spartans to two Big Ten titles and three consecutive top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championship regatta throughout her collegiate career.

Emily Regan becomes the fifth Spartan to be named Big Ten Athlete of the Year.

Emily Regan becomes the fifth Spartan to be named Big Ten Athlete of the Year.

In the fall of her senior year, she attended an ID camp at Notre Dame and, from there, earned an invite to train with the national team at the conclusion of her collegiate career. After a top 10 finish at NCAAs in 2010, Regan moved on to Princeton, New Jersey, to start what would become a near-decade of residency with the US National Rowing Program in Princeton.

Team USA didn't just win during Regan's time in the storied women's eight. It *dominated*. The US Women's eight went 11 years undefeated at major international meets, and Regan joined the program four years into that dominance. The 2016 gold medal at the Rio Olympics was the third straight for the Americans, and Regan – in the bow seat, furthest from the coxswain – was the first US rower across the finish line. Three years prior, (2013), Regan was a part of the women's eight which set a world-record time at World Rowing Cup III in Rotsee/Lucerne, Switzerland. That time of 5:54.160 is a record which stood for eight years.

Over her career, Regan earned 17 international medals: an Olympic gold, five gold, one silver, and one bronze medal from World Championships, as well as four gold, one silver, and four bronze from World Cup competition.

Regam was the Spartans' second-ever rower inducted into Michigan State's Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2023. Regan recently completed her master's degree from Boston University while serving as an assistant coach for the Terriers' men's team.

Michigan State University Athletics

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