Eight Advances with Win

HENLEY, England – The Stanford women’s rowing team continued its weekend of competition at the Henley Women’s Regatta with the eight and pair both in action on Saturday.

The eight was in its first race of the trip and drew a familiar foe in Brown for the first round. The Cardinal, three weeks off a Grand Final appearance at the NCAA Championships, looked strong throughout the race. Stanford put forth a very good effort and topped Brown's B boat by just under two lengths with a time of 4:48.

The Cardinal advances to Sunday where they will go head-to-head with the famed Oxford University, the winner of the famous boat race in 2015. The two will meet in the semifinals.

The pair had advanced after a victory on Friday. Racing for the second time, Courtney Carrabino and Reilly Hayes were in for a good one against a composite boat from Nottingham/Queens Belfast out of Ireland. The English/Irish boat was the fastest in the field on Friday and had just a little too much strength as they edged the Stanford boat by 2/3 of a length with a time of 5:43.

Nottingham, featuring a 2014 Great Britain U-23 roster member, went out at a high rate and got the jump off the line in the first 500 meters. Stanford's pair fought back in the second 500 meters and the boats remained overlapped throughout the race. In the final 500 meters, Stanford's sprint drew them to within two-thirds of a boatlength but the Nottingham/Queens Belfast combo held them off to win.

“It was really a tenacious race," said head coach Yasmin Farooq. "The Nottingham/Queens Belfast IRE pair had a really powerful start and nearly broke away, but Courtney and Reilly got right back in there, kept attacking and made it a race to the finish.”

The run for the Cardinal pair came to an end with the loss, but Stanford still has its eight and quad left in the field. The quad will race for the first time on Sunday in the semifinals against Brown.