Oct. 18, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -
For just the third time since the women’s lightweight eight became an event at the Head of the Charles in 1980, a college crew won the race, as the Wisconsin Badgers dominated the field to win at the prestigious annual regatta.
“It was an awesome day for the Wisconsin rowing team today,” said women’s lightweight coach Erik Miller. “The lightweights won in the eight by 26 seconds; Kristin Hedstrom, an alum, won the lightweight singles event; and the men won the men’s championship four event. Fantastic day out here.
“This is a really big deal for us. To win this, it just speaks tremendously to the speed of our crew right now.”
The Badger women’s lightweight eight placed third at the event last year and so started third in the race of 14 crews. Following defending champion Vesper Boat Club and last year’s runner up Queen’s University of Canada, the Badgers fired off the line and nearly bridged the three to four-length advantage of Queen’s immediately. From there, the UW started working into the difference between itself and Vesper Boat Club.
“It was not very good conditions,” said Miller. “It was a blustery, windy, cold day. It was raining most of the day. Just about the time it was time to start the lightweight eight race, it started snowing. It was cold, windy and rough conditions out there but the team did a fantastic job. They were strong and aggressive and looked really composed and handling the conditions well and ended up overlapping Vesper by the end of the race.”
The Badgers finished the approximately three-mile race in 17:25.396, with Vesper Boat Club second in 17:51.237 and Georgetown third in 18:14.893.
“We were 26 seconds ahead of Vesper and 50 seconds ahead of the next crew of Georgetown,” said Miller. “That’s our main competition: Georgetown, Princeton, Radcliffe, Stanford and MIT. We had a awesome race against those schools today and hopefully we'll have another successful season.
“The Vesper Boat Club, who were defending champions, had some really top caliber oarswomen in there. They had Meghan Sarbanis in the boat, who came in fourth place in the lightweight women’s single at the World Championships this past year. They had several other former national team rowers in that boat.”
Wisconsin’s victory matched a feat accomplished twice previously since the lightweight eight event began 30 years ago. The Badgers repeated what their own crews from 2000 and 2001 did, winning the Head of the Charles as a college crew.
The UW winning crew included coxswain Shelly Miller, Dani Dewitt, Kaela Erickson, Sarah Padway, Katherine Fink, Adrienne Winfield, Taylor Fries, Mia Cava and Grace Lautman.
Miller said, “I can’t say enough about how well this team has worked, not just this fall, but all summer long, really preparing themselves to do well this fall. To come out with our squad and perform that well against these teams really speaks to the athletes we have and the work ethic that our athletes have. Our team came out today ready to race and the performed beautifully.
“The team has really come back to school in fantastic shape We have great freshmen coming in, we have strong sophomores, juniors and seniors. The people on the team have put in a lot of work and we are finally realizing our real potential speed. It is exciting to see and exciting to see the progress the team continues to make.”
Head of the Charles
Charles River
Boston
Oct. 18, 2009
3 Miles
Lightweight women’s eight (14 entries)
1. Wisconsin, 17:25.196; 2. Vesper Boat Club, 17:51.237; 3. Georgetown,
18:14.893; 4 Brock University Rowing Club; 5. Radcliffe, 18:26.343;
6. Princeton, 18:28.488; 7. Queen’s University, 18:36.968; 8. Massachusetts,
18:42.843; 9. Stanford, 18:44.093; 10. McGill University, 19:00.857
UW Boating: Coxswain Shelly Miller, Dani Dewitt, Kaela Erickson, Sarah Padway,
Katherine Fink, Adrienne Winfield, Taylor Fries, Mia Cava, Grace Lautman
