CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Stanford women's rowing opened its season by repeating as collegiate champion of the Championship Eights at the Head of the Charles Regatta on the Charles River on Sunday.
Placing third overall to a pair of USRowing boats, Stanford finished the three-mile course in 15:24.784, more than four seconds ahead of Yale for the collegiate crown and nearly 19 seconds behind the top U.S. boat with essentially the same personnel who raced in this summer's World Championships.
In the Championship Fours, Stanford was third overall and third among collegians, clocking 17:46.662. Washington won in 17:33.168.
The Head of the Charles is the largest two-day regatta in the world with more than 400,000 spectators and 11,000 competitors.
The Stanford Eights competed with a lineup of (from bow to stern): coxswain Caroline Ricksen, Kelsey McGinley, Esther Briz Zamorano, Kaitlyn Kynast, Grace McGinley, Emily Delleman, Sarah Commesso, Meg Saunders, and Annabelle Bachmann.
This marked the collegiate debut of Bachmann, a freshman from Ingelheim, Germany, who rowed at the stroke. She was a two-time runner-up at the Junior World Championships.
The Cardinal Fours went with a lineup of coxswain Tassica Lim, Sophie Dixon, Miranda Nykolyn, Eva Nates, and Lettie Cabot, who competing at her hometown of Cambridge. She competed in the Head of the Charles twice before in the junior fours plus cox. This was her highest placing, in her collegiate debut.
The course stretches from the start at Boston University's DeWolfe Boathouse near the Charles River Basin to the finish just after the Eliot Bridge. The regatta is in its 55th year and is steeped with tradition.
Stanford races once more this fall, against California on Nov. 9 on the Oakland Estuary.
Stanford placed fourth in the Championship Fours. Photo by Aaron Shepley.
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Head of the Charles
On the Charles River (3 miles)
Winner and Stanford results
Championship Eights: 1, USTC 15:05.842; 3, Stanford (c: Ricksen, K. McGinley, Zamorano, Kynast, G. McGinley, Delleman, Commesso, Saunders, Bachmann) 15:24.784.
Championship Fours: 1, Washington 17:33.168; 3, Stanford (c: Lim, Dixon, Nykolyn, Nates, Cabot) 17:46.662.
The Cardinal was the top collegiate boat and third overall in the Championship Eights. Photo by Aaron Shepley.