BOSTON – The Washington women's rowing team finished third in the Women's Championship Eights Sunday at the 58th annual Head of the Charles Regatta.
 
The race finished up a weekend that also saw Washington women earn a win in the Women's Alumnae Eights, on Saturday, in an event featuring 45 entries.
 
Sunday, the UW varsity crew was sixth at the first marker and ninth at the halfway point, but surged in the third quarter of the race, crossing the Weld milestone in third place. The Huskies finished the three-mile course on the Charles River with a time of 15:20.996, about six-and-a-half seconds back of the winners, Leander Club of Great Britain.

"I was lucky enough to have a really tenacious group of women helping me down the course today," said varsity coxswain Nina Castagna, "and I speak for us all when I say we had a great time in Boston! In our minds, today was the first chance for us to show what the Women of Washington are looking to do this year. We've got a young team and have only been together about a month now, so we know there's plenty of work to do, but that doesn't make today any less exciting.

"There wasn't any big move in the middle to speed us up," Castagna explained, "just a true commitment to each other that helped drive us to the line. We're hoping to continue to strengthen that commitment this season so that we can do something extraordinary with the rest of this year."
 
Washington was second among college crews, as an eight from Penn finished in 15:15.491, to take top honors among collegiate entries. The Women's Championship Eights included a total of 29 competitors.
 
Next up for the Huskies this fall is the Head of the Lake Regatta, Nov. 6, on Lake Union and Lake Washington in Seattle.
 
Washington Lineup:
 
Women's Championship Eights
Shell: Title IX Sisterhood
Cox: Nina Castagna (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills)
Stroke: McKenna Bryant (Kent, Wash./Kennedy Catholic)
7: Aisha Rocek (Erba, Italy)
6: Elena Collier-Hezel (Buffalo, N.Y./The Park School)
5: Angharad Broughton (Cardiff, Wales, U.K.)
4: Abby Adebiyi (London, England, U.K.)
3: Nikki Martincic (Newtown, Sydney, Australia)
2: Leah Nash (Chatham, Mass./Monomoy)
Bow: Mira Calder (Victoria, B.C., Canada)