SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Washington women's rowing team won the Laurel Korholz Perpetual Trophy in the women's novice eight, and also finished third in one other final Sunday at the 50th annual San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay.
 
The regatta featured six of seven varsity programs from the Pac-12, including No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Washington and No. 7 California, as well as No. 1-ranked Texas. Those four programs featured prominently in all of the grand finals for collegiate women.
 
Washington's novice eight, a crew of nine American freshmen from five different states, defended the title that last year's UW novice crew won in San Diego. The Huskies, favored in the final after a first-place finish in Saturday's preliminary race, led from wire-to-wire. The University of British Columbia crew gave the Husky freshmen a race for much of the 2,000 meters, but in the end, Washington won by about two boat lengths of open water, with a time of 7:10.093. UBC was second in 7:23.391, with UCLA third.
 
"The novices were an inspiration throughout the weekend," said UW head coach Yasmin Farooq, "and we're excited for their future impact on the team."
 
The Huskies also finished third in the varsity four final, fourth in the 2V8+ and 3V8+ races, and fifth (third among U.S. college crews) in the varsity eight final.
 
"We are grateful for the top-level competition and I'm confident that will inspire us to elevate our game," Farooq said. "We were glad to bring the sun with us from Seattle.
 
"This team is filled with positive hard workers and we all can't wait to get back to Seattle to create more boatspeed," Farooq continued.
 
In the varsity eight final for the Jessop-Whitter Cup, Rowing Canada, competing as an exhibition crew and therefore not eligible for the trophy, led the way off of the starting dock, but the rest of the boats remained close in the early-going. Stanford and Texas moved out front among the six competitive crews, with UW, Cal and Oxford Brookes fighting for third.
 
Midway through the race, the Huskies caught California and moved in behind Stanford and Texas. Oxford Brookes, from England, made a move into third place (not counting the Canadian crew in the outside lane).
 
At the end, Texas (6:29.985) rowed through Stanford (6:31.850) and won by about a half-length over the Cardinal. The Canadian crew (6:34.694) was third, followed by Oxford Brookes (6:38.244). Washington (6:41.401) crossed the line in fifth overall, half a length ahead of rival Cal (6:43.506), with USC (6:50.728) seventh.
 
In the Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup final, for varsity fours, the Huskies were among the crews that moved to the front of the pack from the start, along with Notre Dame, Cal and Stanford. Soon enough, Texas joined that group and rowed through the field into first, with Stanford closest behind.
 
As the top-four crews (Notre Dame had dropped off) entered the final stretch, the Huskies were in fourth, behind Cal. At the finish line, the Huskies just edged out the Bears, finishing in 7:34.010, just 0.019 seconds ahead of the Golden Bears (7:34.029). Texas (7:24.910) picked up its second trophy, with Stanford second (6:31.850).
 
Immediately after that race, many of the same teams raced in the second varsity eight final, the Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy. Once again, Stanford, Cal and Washington went to the front of the field, with the UW ahead over much of the early portion of the race. However, Texas once again moved in front with Stanford chasing and old rivals Cal and UW battling for third.
 
This time, the Bears held off the Husky charge, crossing the line in third place with a time of 6:47.423, just over half a second in front of the fourth-place Huskies (6:47.924). Texas was first in 6:40.283, with Stanford close behind in 6:20.283.
 
The Huskies' final event of the day was for the Carley Copley Cup, a race for open eights (third varsity eight in UW's case), and also featuring entries from Texas, Stanford and Cal.
 
The crews left the start in seed order, with Texas, Stanford, Cal and Washington maintaining the top-four positions, in that order, for nearly the first 1,000 meters. At the halfway mark, however, Stanford moved past the Longhorns into the lead.
 
Cal also briefly rowed through Texas, but shortly after, the Longhorns returned to the front of the pack. In the end, the teams crossed the line in seed order , with the Huskies finishing fourth.
 
Washington will now have three weeks to prepare for the annual UW-Cal Dual Regatta, on Montlake Cut in Seattle on April 22. That event will also mark the rowing program's observance and celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
 
WASHINGTON LINEUPS
 
Varsity Eight
Cox: Nina Castagna (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills)
Stroke: McKenna Bryant (Kent, Wash./Kennedy Catholic)
7: Ella Cossill (Waikato, New Zealand )
6: Nikki Martincic (Newtown, Sydney, Australia)
5: Angharad Broughton (Cardiff, Wales, U.K.)
4: Elena Collier-Hezel (Buffalo, N.Y./Park School/Michigan)
3: Abby Adebiyi (London, England, U.K.)
2: Leah Nash (Chatham, Mass./Monomoy)
Bow: Aisha Rocek (Como, Italy)
 
Second Varsity Eight
Cox: Carina Baxter (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge)
Stroke: Mira Calder (Victoria, B.C., Canada/Claremont)
7: Cait Whittard (St. Catharines, Ont., Canada)
6: Grace Vander Griend (Bellingham, Wash./Sehome)
4: Jordan Freer (Lotus, Calif./El Dorado/UCSB)
4: Jeri Rhodes (St. Louis, Mo./Michigan)
3: Madi Frampton (Tumwater, Wash.)
2: Ava Meuleman (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt)
Bow: Victoria Park (Bellevue, Wash./The Bush School)
 
Varsity Four
Stroke: Eliza Perry (Bellingham, Wash./Sehome)
3: Brigit O'Rourke (West Seattle, Wash./Vashon Island)
2: Renee Hopper (Preston, Wash./Issaquah)
Bow: Dimitra Tsamopoulou (Athens, Greece)
Cox: Grace Murdock (Roswell, Ga./Milton)
 
Third Varsity Eight
Cox: Olivia Murdock (Atlanta, Ga./Milton)
Stroke: Haley Stoker (Bellingham, Wash./Bellingham)
7: Carly Lauritzen (Nine Mile Falls, Wash./Lakeside)
6: Allison Jakeway (Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada)
5: Grace Epp (Redmond, Wash./Redmond)
4: Claire Marion (San Marcos, Calif./San Marcos)
3: Claire Surbeck (Bellevue, Wash./International School)
2: Molly Wiser (Leavenworth, Wash./Cascade)
Bow: Brianna Hoffman (Poulsbo, Wash./North Kitsap)
 
Novice Eight
Cox: Camille Randall (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Prep)
Stroke: Isabelle Tinsley (Venice, Fla./Collegiate)
7: Margaret Young (San Anselmo, Calif./Williams)
6: Sofie Sand (Rochester, Wash./Rochester)
5: Cami Martin (Seattle, Wash./Nathan Hale)
4: Caitlin Hane (Irvine, Calif./University)
3: Danielle Lohrenz (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka)
2: Luella Bowersock (Austin, Texas/Austin)
Bow: Claudia Horton (Olympia, Wash./Olympia)