Yale Athletics

This weekend, the Yale women’s rowing team and men’s heavyweight and lightweight crew teams traveled to Boston for the annual Head of the Charles Regatta. The women picked up a collegiate title in the championship eight, and both mens’ teams finished in the top five.

The women’s team began the competition on Saturday, when they captured the club eight title with a time of 16:10.900. This time was almost 16 seconds faster than second-place Dartmouth.

Anna Keating ’27 stroked the Club Eight to a victory, with Lily Eales ’25 at bow, followed by Maeve Heneghan ’26, Claire Cummings ’26, Sus Tuder ’26, Stine Nielsen ’27, Sophie Craver ’25 and Patti Mullin ’26. Hope Galusha ’26 coxed the boat.

On Sunday, the team’s Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight competed, earning the collegiate championship title and bronze medal, respectively.

Lauren Carey ’24 stroked the Varsity Eight to a time of 16:25.277, the fifth fastest overall time behind only US Rowing and European crews. Esha Bhattacharya ’24 coxed the eight, with Harriet Drake-Lee ’26 in the bow seat, followed by Imogen Cabot ’26, Sophia Hahn ’24, Hanna Winter ’24, Maddie Moore ’25, Mia Levy ’25 and Sophie Houston ’24.

Aikaterini Gkogkou ’27 stroked the Second Varsity Eight, with Laura Burton ’27 at bow, followed by Olivia Schnur ’25, Jana Dremelj ’27, Lindsey Williams ’27, Mackenzie Ealson ’26. Marie Ramm ’25 and Alexa von der Schulenburg ’26. Grace Menke ’24 coxed the boat. The Second Varsity Eight posted a time of 16:58.163, the third fastest 2V crew.

“It is really fun to coach this team,” said women’s head coach Will Porter to Yale Athletics. “They are eager to learn, great teammates and super positive.”

The men’s heavyweight crew team fought hard on Sunday, claiming fifth place in the varsity race with a time of 14:35.543. 

Harry Geffen ’25 stroked the Varsity Eight with Benjamin Wiegand ’24 at bow, followed by Matthew Hansen ’25, Yaroslav Mikhaylov ’25, Zachary Day ’26, Lexi McClean ’25, Syvert Senumstad ’25 and John Patton ’27. Harry Keenan ’24 coxed the boat.

“We had a very experienced coxswain, and starting third let us navigate around most of the traffic,” said Ben Wiegand ’24. “The race itself was very bumpy and winding, and finding a rhythm came and went a lot–but everyone had great composure and stuck with the effort throughout it.”

The Varsity Eight’s coxswain, Keenan, coxed the Australian junior men’s 4V to fifth at the 2019 junior world championships.

Luca Liautaud ’25 stroked the men’s Second Varsity Eight to a 16th place finish of 14:58.728.

Justin Lobo ’24 coxed the boat with Seth Hope ’25 at bow, followed by Einar Bjorvik ’27, Jan Vacek ’24, Ulrik Lohne ’27, Stewart Fuqua ’26, Alex Potter ’24 and Jakov Bijelic ’25.

The NCAA crew season is in the spring, so the Head of the Charles and Head of the Housatonic regattas are opportunities for off-season competition for the crew teams. The Head of the Housatonic was supposed to be held this year on Oct. 7, but it was cancelled due to inclement weather.

“The results at the Charles are never indicative of results in the spring, so it’s hard to draw conclusions following the race,” said McClean. “That being said, the energy surrounding training has been really positive, and the whole team has significantly improved both on the erg and on the water since arriving at the start of the fall. I’m excited to see where our progress takes us.”

The men’s lightweight crew team brought the largest contingent of the three teams — two eights and two fours — to the Boston stage this weekend.

The ‘A’ Eight finished fifth, falling to fourth-place Dartmouth by two seconds. The ‘B’ Eight finished in 13th.

Ryan Vaughn ’25 stroked the ‘A’ Eight with Magdalena Moore ’25 at cox and Devin Seli ’24 at bow, followed by Will Konopka ’26, Timmy Parsons ’26, Nolan Kaputa ’26, Michael Steinthal ’24, Itai Almogy ’24 and Andres Garcia-Chacon ’24. 

Constantine Polychronopoulos ’25 stroked the ‘B’ Eight with Akshay Khunte ’24 at cox and Maxwell Raabe ’27 at bow, followed by Andrew Kasparyan ’26, Michael Linquata ’24, Harry Waters ’27, Enrico Pradines ’24, Max Blacksten ’27 and Angus Stevenson ’25.

“Our guys raced hard and showed some good second-half effort in all the races, helped by awesome, excellent coxing,” said lightweight head coach Andy Card to Yale Athletics.

The lightweight ‘A’ Four placed 10th, and the lightweight ‘B’ Four placed 13th.

James Casemore ’24 stroked the ‘A’ Four with Fanny Zhang ’24 at cox and John Cahill ’25 at bow, followed by Andy Yang ’24 and Andrew Griesinger ’26.

Tom Monaghan ’26 stroked the ‘B’ Four with Jackie Weyerhaeuser ’25 at cox and Martin Vakoc ’26 at bow, followed by Raph Clark ’27 and Blake Weyerhaeuser ’24.

All three crew teams will resume competition in the spring.

Correction Nov. 11: This article was updated to clarify that the Head of the Housatonic was canceled this year due to inclement weather.