When the 2024 racing season gets underway Saturday at the 123rd annual Class Day Regatta, the UW women's team will introduce an uncommonly large group of newcomers to the fans lining Montlake Cut.
 
The Washington women's team's group of 2024 newcomers is comprised of 48 rowers and coxswains. That number includes 10 transfer students (from nine different Division I programs), as well as 16 freshmen from the Puget Sound area, both recruited athletes and walk-ons. It's rounded out by a long list of freshmen from all over the United States, and five from other nations.
 
Here's a brief rundown of this big group of new Women of Washington, beginning with the transfers:
 
All 10 transfers join the UW program having competed at other major-college programs, some for just one year and others for a good deal longer. Here's an alphabetical introduction:
 
Caitlin Bentley, who has competed at multiple Junior World Championships for South Africa, was her team's Oarswoman of the Year at Louisville in 2022, earning second-team All-ACC twice. Paris Burbine, who rowed for the U.S. at 2021 World Junior Championships, spent much of the last two seasons in the Boston University varsity eight. As a freshman, she won the Patriot League championship and competed at NCAAs in the second eight.
 
Christiana Congdon, a Connecticut native, rowed in the U.S. eight at 2017 Junior Worlds, and earned her degree from Yale. She won an NCAA championship in the Bulldogs' 2V8+ in 2022, and finished fourth in that same boat last year. Jane Cox, from San Diego, comes north after two seasons at USC. She won gold in the American 4+ at 2021 World Juniors.
 
Alex Dessart, from Bronxville, N.Y., began her college career at UCLA, and comes to Montlake to join her brother, Spencer, a pitcher on the Husky baseball team. Victoria Gevaudan is a grad transfer from Notre Dame. The Pittsburgh, Pa., product spent extensive time in the Irish's varsity eight over her four years there.
 
Olivia Hay, from Auckland, New Zealand, was a teammate of Dessart at UCLA, where she spent the last three years, mostly in the Bruins' top boat. She has sculled for her country at multiple World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
 
Ellen Koselka, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and went on to row for Michigan before transferring to UW, comes from a family of swimmers, as both parents were standouts at Notre Dame, while two siblings (Ellen is a triplet) are or were college swimmers and another runs cross country and track at Michigan.
 
Cillian Mullen, who attended high school in Illinois, was in the same U.S. four as fellow UW transfer Paris Burbine at 2021 World Juniors. Mullen spent the 2022-23 season at the University of Virginia and rowed in the second eight that won the ACC championship and competed at NCAAs.
 
The final transfer is coxswain Elisabeth Wu, who graduated from Shorecrest High just north of Seattle, and who coxed the novice boat at the University of Wisconsin last year.
 
After those 10 transfers, there are 37 more new members of the UW women's team, all of them freshmen. Five are international students.
 
Samantha Coit comes to UW from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where she was twice voted her school crew's MVP. Zola Kemp grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, and rowed in the Kiwi eight at 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships.
 
Biba Rabjohns is from Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, and attended Hartpury College in Gloucester. She's competed twice at Henley and has won multiple national titles at the youth level. Another Brit is Jess Weir, from London. She won gold in the GB double at 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
 
Victoria Trentin is from Melbourne, Australia, and joins the UW program after a successful youth and school career. She was in the Aussie eight at 2022 Under 19 Worlds.
 
A total of 16 freshmen are from the area, including six from Seattle proper. That number includes two Holy Names Academy alumnae: Olivia Howe and Alana Lombaard. Lucy Ahrens is a Ballard High graduate, while Lita Howard attended Roosevelt High School. Carmel Bollag went to University Prep, just north of the UW campus, and Ella Jones is a product of West Seattle High.
 
Other graduates of high schools in King County are Victoria Bresee and coxswain Aileen Tang, who both competed for the Bothell High School crew; Shannon MacDonald (Bellevue/Sammamish); Emma McIntosh (Issaquah) and Alise Castaneda (Woodinville).
 
Slightly farther afield, Isabella Crosby and and Olivia Fox were classmates at Curtis High School in University Place, Wash., near Tacoma; while Melony Bridgeman attended Bethel High in nearby Roy, Wash.
 
Two UW freshmen hail from Thurston County: Kalee Verd (Olympia HS) and Anzley Wevodau (Yelm HS).
 
Remarkably, the remaining freshmen come from 11 different states. Emma Lamb-Smith (Portland, Ore./Grant HS) and Hannah Nowers (Palmer, Alaska) are Pacific Northwest products, while there are five Californians in the class: Ella Avital (Newport Beach/Corona del Mar), coxswain Jordyn Costello (Newport Beach/Newport Harbor), Masey Milham (San Francisco/Saint Ignatius), coxswain Skya Dietz (Albany), and Fiona Rosales (Oakland School for the Arts).
 
Coxswain Taylor Inouye attended Punahou School on Oahu in Hawai'i, while the remaining classmates all come from other parts of the country.
 
Kate Russ comes to UW from Plano, Texas (Plano East HS); Megan Romesberg is from Satellite Beach, Fla. (Satellite HS); and Rachel Massey attended Apex Friendship High in Apex, N.C.
 
Five UW freshmen are from the northeastern U.S.: Ceili Mahoney (Madison, N.H./Kennett); coxswain Perry McLoughlin (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber); coxswain Dora O'Connor (Fairfax, Va./WT Woodson); Cas Pendleton (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop John Carroll); and Greta Slaats (Crozet, Va./Western Albemarle).
 
This group of newcomers will play a huge role in the success of the Washington program both this spring and in seasons to come. Their first race through Montlake Cut comes tomorrow at Class Day, beginning at 10:00 a.m.