On a beautiful fall day in Boston, Yale women’s crew posted two strong finishes at the 48th annual Head of the Charles Regatta this past weekend. The club eight earned a first-place finish, while the championship four out-stroked all other collegiate crews, finishing third overall.
However, the championship eight for the Elis finished 14th overall in a strong field which included international and high-ranking collegiate crews.
“It was great to win the club eight and be the fastest college in the championship four,” head coach Will Porter said, adding that the varsity race was disappointing. “We have a lot of work to do to get faster. It is ok because we have time, but it is never fun to put on a Yale uniform and go slow.”
The first race for the Bulldogs was held on Saturday and featured the club eight. Coxswain Margaret Ayers ’13, Juliet Caragianis ’15, Martha Cosgrove ’16, Madeline Dinse ’15, Amina Edwards ’15, Kara Freeman ’15, Natalie Lapides ’15, Tierney Larson ’15 and Brit Sharon ’16 started in the race. The Bulldogs finished with a time of 16:49.64, enough to beat the second-place Holy Cross crew by a wide thirteen-second gap.
The championship four, finishing behind Rowing Canada and Vesper Boat Club, cruised across the finish line at 18:57.11. The time was good enough for a third-place finish and earned the Bulldogs the top collegiate spot in the heat. The Yale boat was comprised of coxswain Christine Devlin ’15, Colleen Maher ’16, Elizabeth Vincent ’15, Kristina Wagner ’15 and Abbie Young ’16.
“The club eight and the champ four had excellent races,” captain Eliza Hastings ’13 said. “We are all proud of their accomplishments this weekend and hope to keep the momentum moving forward.”
The championship eight for the Elis finished in a disappointing 14th spot, 9th collegiate, and marked a significant drop off since Yale’s fourth-place collegiate finish in the race last season. U.S. Rowing won the race handily in a time of 16:13.49. The U.S. boat included Olympic medalist Taylor Ritzel ’10.
University of Virginia, last year’s NCAA champions, was the top collegiate finisher in the championship eights, finishing third overall.
The 14th place finish comes after Yale’s varsity eight posted a victory at the Head of the Housatonic to open its fall season.
“The fall is always a good opportunity to learn the strengths and weaknesses of a team,” Hastings said. “After these three races this October we will have a better understanding of where we stand as a team and what we need to work on in order to become faster for the spring.”
The team will have one more chance to compete this fall when the team wraps up its season at Princeton next weekend.