THREE STANFORD ROWERS earned All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association on Thursday – each for the first time.
James Fetter, a senior, earned Empacher-IRCA first-team honors. Elliott Donovan-Davies, a freshman, was named to the second team. And graduate student Max Shakespeare was honorable mention.
The Stanford varsity eight, which featured all three, placed third in the B Final at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on New Jersey’s Cooper River Lake. Overall, the Cardinal placed ninth in the nation.
Fetter rowed in the No. 6 seat in all but one race, and was in the stroke seat in the other. Fetter’s parents are rowers, but he was a swimmer at Palo Alto High and didn’t have competitive rowing experience before walking on in 2022.
Fetter made his 1V8+ debut midway through his junior season and went on to represent the U.S. in the single sculls at the 2024 World U23 Championships. Fetter, an All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selection, was the only senior rower on the Cardinal team.
Donovan-Davies rowed in the No. 7 seat in 12 of his 14 races, including the IRA Championships B Final. The MPSF Freshman of the Year, Donovan-Davies was a fixture in the stern pair behind stroke Tom Corbett.
Donovan-Davies, of Llanharan, Wales, set Stanford’s freshman 2K record on the Concept2 rowing machine, at 5:48.5. He rowed for Great Britain in the quadruple sculls at the 2024 World U23 Championships, in the No. 3 seat as the team placed sixth in the A final.
While at England’s Hartpury College, Donovan-Davies won the 2024 Open Championship Singles at the National Schools’ Regatta, the most prestigious race for British single scullers in the kingdom. He broke a course record that stood for 17 years.
Shakespeare rowed in the No. 4 seat in all 15 races in his only season for the Cardinal after arriving as a grad transfer from Harvard. He mostly sat in front of fellow grad transfer Adrien Richez, formerly of Navy, and behind Luke Smith in the engine room.
Shakespeare is a native of Salisbury, England. He won the 2018 world U19 cchampionship in the men's eight for Great Britain, rowing in the No. 3 seat while suffering from a broken rib. He rowed for three seasons at Harvard, including with the fours at the IRA Championships in 2024.
Empacher-IRCA All-Americans
First team: James Fetter, Sr.
Second team: Elliott Donovan-Davies, Fr.
Honorable Mention: Max Shakespeare, Grad.