Ciara O'Sullivan joined the Boston University women's rowing program in September of 2023. The 2023-24 season was their first on the Charles River.
In their first year on staff in 2023-24, O'Sullivan helped the Terriers capture the 2024 Patriot League title, the third in program history and second in the previous three campaigns. BU swept all three Grand Final races for the first time since joining the Patriot League in the 2013-14 school year. For their efforts, the Terrier Varsity 8 crew was named the conference's Boat of the Year.
That season, BU went on to compete at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Bethel, Ohio. Overall, the Terriers finished 19th as a team while generating 24 points, surpassing the totals from their previous two NCAA appearances in 2022 and 2014. Following the end of the collegiate slate, BU went on to compete at the famed Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames in England in July of 2024. Sending two crews, the Terrier 8+ advanced to the quarterfinal round in the Island Challenge Cup, one of two NCAA programs to advance that far in the entry.
O’Sullivan arrived to Commonwealth Ave. following three years at Smith College, the latter two seasons as a graduate assistant coach. Last year, the Pioneers finished third as a team in the NEWMAC Championships, leading to the Varsity 8 and 2V8 reaching the Petite Finals in the NIRC Regatta.
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During their year as the volunteer assistant coach at Smith, O’Sullivan also served as an assistant with the junior girls' rowing team at Northfield Mount Hermon school in Gill, Mass. under head coach Lou Kinder. During the summer of 2021, they helped coach a High Performance Junior program out of Penn AC Rowing Association in Philadelphia, helping the team to a program-best finish at Summer Nationals.
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O’Sullivan was a four-year member of the Temple women’s rowing program. Competing in the Varsity 8 in all four of her seasons, they helped the Owls tie their best-ever finish at the AAC Championships in 2018 and 2019, capturing fourth in both seasons.
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Following their collegiate career, O’Sullivan competed with the High Performance sculling team at the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia, Pa.
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A native of Upper Darby, Pa., O’Sullivan graduated from Temple in 2019 with a degree in Sociology. They later earned their Masters in Exercise and Sport Studies while at Smith in 2023.
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