SEATTLE – The Washington women's rowing team closed out the fall season with a successful day at the annual Head of the Lake Regatta. UW won the Championship Eight, Junior Varsity EIght, Four and Pairs races.
 
The Head of the Lake is an annual head race (time trial) that covers a three-mile race course that begins in Lake Union, moves through the Montlake Cut into Lake Washington, and then turns back into Union Bay before finishing near Conibear Shellhouse.
 
"We're always ready to 'embrace the suck,' when it comes to tough conditions," explained UW head coach Yasmin Farooq, "but the weather was perfect and that really allowed everyone to feel how they were moving the boats today."
 
Washington entered two crews in the top Head of the Lake women's event, the Championship Women's 8+, sponsored by Pocock Racing Shells. The crew stroked by Mira Calder led at each of the checkpoints along the way, and won the race with a time of 16:22.394, about 12 seconds ahead of the other Husky shell. Washington State finished in third place.
 
In the Women's Collegiate JV8+ event, another two Husky entries finished first and second. An eight coxed by Mia Carter led the entire distance and won with a time of 17:26.898, just seven seconds ahead of the other Husky crew. The University of British Columbia finished third, with WSU fourth.
 
The Women's Collegiate 3V8+ race included three UW boats, each of which were crewed by newcomers, many of them walk-ons who only began to row this fall. Those three crews finished third, fourth and fifth, behind entries from WSU and UBC.
 
A bit later, the lone Husky crew in the Women's Collegiate/Open 4+ won its race convincingly, finishing first in a field of nine in 19:18.726, more than 38 seconds in front of a four from the University of Victoria. Three of the four rowers in that winning crew learned to row as walk-ons juast last year.
 
Many of the women who rowed in eights returned to the race course later in the morning, as UW had 15 entries in the Women's Collegiate 2-. That race was won by the veteran pair of Isabel van Opzeeland and Nikki Martincic, who finished in 19:14.455, about 19 seconds ahead of the pair of Olivia Hay and Shakira Mirfin.

"It was super exciting to have the full squad throw down in eights today, novice and varsity," said Martincic, who also rowed in the winning championship eights. "In the champ 8, we got in the lineups two days ago and had really exciting racing. Head of the Lake is one of our few opportunities to make a statement on our home course to ourselves about who we are and what we can do. It's a full pull for us and nothing short of exciting. The giant turn with 1.5k to go definitely throws a spanner in the works but luckily our coxswains carved it up, and what is racing without some crazy obstacles?"

"As a fifth-year on the team getting to race Head of the Lake one more time was very special," added van Opzeeland. "We as the Washington Women's rowing team, got to race down the course twice today, first in eights and fours, and then in pairs. It is a tough race, with some good competition from the other teams and all of our own boats.

"In the eight today we got to start ahead of the other UW eight and we got to go down the course together and tried to elevate one another during the racing to achieve the best we can," she continued. "After that I got to go down the course again with my pair partner Nikki Martincic (who was in front of me in the eight) which was just awesome. We were cheering each other on during the race, and we were just so in sync on everything we did.  Entering the Cut always gives me this magical feeling, hearing the cheering from everyone, it gives me chills every time, and definitely an energy boost. When we finished there was just so much happiness, since this is both our last Head of the Lake as a Washington Husky and this is something very special. Getting to do that with all of our teammates is incredible!"

"We're six weeks in, and every race is an opportunity for each person to test the technical and physical improvements they've made since the beginning of the year," Farooq said. "More importantly, it's a chance to pull for one another and commit to the way we want to race this year, within each boat and across all Washington boats.
 
"This regatta was a really nice reflection of the progress they are making overall," she continued. "We're coming off of some pretty heavy weeks of training and it was exciting to see how much fun they were having by digging deep and challenging one another in eights and then back out on the water in pairs. They really love helping one another go as fast as possible. The three novice eights looked great in their first race. Many of them have only been rowing for four weeks. I think everyone will sleep well tonight."
 
The Head of the Lake was the final competition of the fall for the UW rowing teams. The 2024 spring season gets underway March 16 with the 123rd annual Class Day Regatta.
 
Race #3: Championship Women's 8+ Sponsored by Pocock Racing Shells – Bow #13 
Cox: Olivia Murdock
Stroke: Mira Calder
7: Olivia Hay
6: Nikki Martincic 
5: Isabel van Opzeeland
4: Abby Adebiyi
3: Elena Collier-Hezel
2: Shakira Mirfin 
Bow: Paris Burbine
 
Race #3: Championship Women's 8+ Sponsored by Pocock Racing Shells – Bow #14 
Cox: Grace Murdock
Stroke: Cait Whittard
7: Jess Weir 
6: Angharad Broughton 
5: Christiana Congdon
4: Ava Meuleman
3: Jordan Freer 
2: Biba Rabjohns  
Bow: Allison Jakeway  
 
Race #4: Women's Collegiate JV8+ – Bow #20
Cox: Mia Carter
Stroke: Isabelle Tinsley 
7: Caitlin Hane
6: Briana Hopper 
5: Megan Romesberg 
4: Victoria Trentin 
3: Eliza Perry
2: Grace Epp
Bow: Francesca Abraham 
 
Race #4: Women's Collegiate JV8+ – Bow #24
Cox: Athena Baches
Stroke: Victoria Gevaudan 
7: Sofie Sand
6: Grace Vander Griend 
5: Caitlin Bentley
4: Ellen Koselka 
3: Claire Surbeck 
2: Margaret Young
Bow: Izzy Peters 
 
Race #6: Women's Collegiate 3V8+ – Bow #35
Cox: Dora O'Connor
Stroke: Masey Milham
7: Alana Lombaard
6: Bella Crosby
5: Olivia Fox
4: Victoria Bresee
3: Emma McIntosh
2: Olivia Howe
Bow: Kalee Verd
 
Race #6: Women's Collegiate 3V8+ – Bow #39
Cox: Perry McLoughlin
Stroke: Aya Psichos
7: Kate Russ
6: Carmel Bollag
5: Lita Howard
4: Ella Jones
3: Fiona Rosales
2: Cas Pendleton
Bow: Rachel Massey
 
Race #6: Women's Collegiate 3V8+ – Bow #41
Cox: Aileen Tiang
Stroke: Emma Lamb-Smith
7: Alise Casteneda
6: Ava Reese   
5: Ceili Mahoney
4: Hope Rogers
3: Makena Rutledge
2: Sophia Kahvejian
Bow: Lucy Ahrens
 
Race #11: Women's Collegiate Open 4+ – Bow #99
Stroke: Zoë Bischoff 
3: Luella Bowersock
2: Cami Martin
Bow: Cora Madison 
Cox: Elisabeth Wu 
 
Race #25: Women's Collegiate 2-
Bow #244: Jess Weir / Cait Whittard
Bow #245: Isabel van Opzeeland / Nikki Martincic
Bow #246: Olivia Hay / Shakira Mirfin
Bow #247: Angharad Broughton / Christiana Congdon
Bow #248: Ava Meuleman / Jordan Freer
Bow #249: Abby Adebiyi / Elena Collier-Hezel
Bow #250: Paris Burbine / Mira Calder
Bow #251: Biba Rabjohns / Allison Jakeway
Bow #252: Caitlin Bentley / Grace Vander Griend
Bow #253: Catelin Hane / Briana Hopper
Bow #254: Grace Epp / Eliza Perry
Bow #255: Victoria Gevaudan / Sofie Sand
Bow #256: Ellen Koselka / Izzy Peters
Bow #257: Isabelle Tinsley / Francesca Abraham
Bow #258: Victoria Trentin / Megan Romesberg