BOSTON, Mass. – Racing for the first time in the 2013-14 season, the Stanford lightweight rowing team came away with a fourth place finish in the Women’s Lightweight Eight at the 49th Head of the Charles.
“I thought we had a pretty good row and performed better than last year’s race here,” said head coach Al Acosta. “The nice thing was we raced better than we have been practicing even though we have only been at it for a short time.”
The Cardinal crossed the finish line in 17:38.326 to finish second among collegiate teams behind the University of Wisconsin, who was third overall. The top time of the afternoon was 17:05.232 by the Minerva Rowing Club out of the Netherlands. The rest of the top five were the Radcliffe Crew in second and the Vesper Boat Club in fourth.
Stanford rowed a 4:13.681 in the Riverside split to start the first quarter of the race in fifth place. After the Weld split, the Cardinal maintained fifth place but fell further back of the leaders. It was a similar story through the Cambridge BC split and final quarter of the race as Stanford remained in fifth throughout.
It was a great early test for a boat that was made up of five freshmen, three sophomores and one senior. The five freshmen making their collegiate debut were Jackie Huddle, Martine Johnannessen, Christine Cavallo, Brianna Goldstein and Sarah Hirshorn. The freshmen were thrust into early action due partly to five juniors studying abroad for the Fall of 2013.
“I thought all of the freshmen did really well,” said Acosta. “We had a freshman in Jackie Huddle who had never stroked a boat before and after only three weeks rowing from a side she was not used to do great. She was determined and kept the pace up even though it is a long race.”
Stanford will return to racing Nov. 10 when they head to Foster City, Calif. to compete in the Head of the Lagoon.
Stanford Lineup
Zoe Wolford - Coxswain
Katherine Christel - Bow
Emma Collins - 2
Sarah Hirshorn - 3
Brianna Goldstein - 4
Christine Cavallo - 5
Martine Johannessen - 6
Brittany Presten - 7
Jackie Huddle – Stroke