OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Wisconsin women's lightweight rowing team opened up their fall season at the Head of the Oklahoma on Saturday and Sunday on the Oklahoma RIver.

In addition to racing against the Wisconsin openweight team, the UW lightweights raced against a wide variety of openweight from all over the southern half of the country. 

The Badgers put out 13 different racing lineups for the two-day regatta, and despite the 95 degree heat, Wisconsin showed up ready to compete and came home with nine gold medals between the two squads. Five golds for the lightweights and four golds for the openweights. 

Up next: The Badgers will travel to Minnesota for a scrimmage against the Gophers on Oct. 14. 

Straight from the shore
Lightweight Coach Hodge Habibovic

On how the weekend went: "The team had a strong showing for their first race of the season. It's exciting to see some of our freshmen really in the mix competitively. This regatta brings a lot of southern openweight D-1 competition and it's always fun to beat up on some openweights whenever we get the opportunity to line up against those schools."

On determination of the team: "All of our women competed in 2-3 events over the two days of racing with most of them doubling up on Saturday. When you take into account the night sprints, it's a full 12-hour day of racing and I think the team showed up determined Sunday morning which was good to see."

On progress: "We showed better this weekend as a team than we did last year which is good to see for the program and the progress we are continuing to make. It was fun to have our openweights at the regatta with us because, between the two squads, we won a lot of medals."

On preparation: "When we get back to Madison, we are going straight into a pretty intense few weeks of selection as we head into Head of the Charles weekend. It'll be interesting to see how our top-end athletes shake out and we're excited for the racing to come in Boston."

Head of the Oklahoma
Sept. 30 - Oct. 1, 2023
Oklahoma River
Oklahoma City, Okla. 
2.5 miles

Saturday, Sept. 30

Women's Collegiate Frosh 4+ 
1. Wisconsin Lightweights, 16:14.6; 2. Colorado, 19:03.0; 3. Wichita State B, 19:29.2
UW Lineup: Coxswain Sarah Rab, Georgia Harlow, Sierra Mason, Romy McCarthy, Ella Springer  

Women's Collegiate 2- 
1. Wisconsin, 16:55.8; 2. Tulsa, 17:11.2; 3. Alabama, 17:13.5; 4. Oklahoma, 17:20.0; 5. Alabama, 17:28.1; 6. Tulsa, 17:35.7; 7. Wisconsin Lightweights, 17:42.7 
UW Lineup: Adeline Hinkie, Daisy Hester 

Women's Open 2x
1. Wisconsin Lightweights, 17:07.3; 2. Dallas, 17:18.4; 3. Tulsa, 17:41.7
UW Lineup: Victoria Moda, Evelyn Payne  

Women's Collegiate 4+ 
1. Wisconsin, 15:50.8; 2. Tulsa, 16:00.4; 3. Wisconsin Lightweights, 16:05.0; 4. Oklahoma, 16:09.8; 5. Wisconsin, 16:18.7
UW Lineup: Coxswain Emma Collins, Falcon Jaacks, Payton Tonnos, Maddy Stack, Alicia Le Bars  

Women's Open 4x
1. Wisconsin Lightweights, 16:51.0
UW Lineup: Abbey DiChiara, Marley Burgess, Gracie Walker, Helena Ikenberry 

Women's Collegiate 8+
1. Wisconsin, 14:34.4; 2. Clemson, 14:41. 5; 3. Alabama, 14:50.3; 4. Oklahoma, 15:06.5; 5. Wisconsin Lightweights A, 15:06.7; 6. Clemson, 15:10.9; 7. Wisconsin; 15:12.3; 8. Tulsa, 15:25.3; 9. Wisconsin Lightweights B, 15:25.6
UW LWT A Lineup: Coxswain Sarah Rab, Falcon Jaacks, Payton Tonnos, Maddy Stack, Alicia Le Bars, Victoria Moda, Rianne Wagner, Evelyn Payne
UW LWT B Lineup: Coxswain Emma Collins, Georgia Harlow, Daisy Hester, Romy McCarthy, Ella Springer, Adeline Hinkie, Marley Burgess, Abbey DiChiara, Olivia Moore 

Sunday, Oct. 1

Women's Open 4+
1. Wisconsin Lightweights A, 16:09.0; 2. Wisconsin, 16:14.5; 3. Wisconsin, 16:28.3; 4. Central Oklahoma, 16:32.6; 5. Wisconsin Lightweights B, 16:46.5
UW LWT A: Coxswain Sarah Rab, Falcon Jaacks, Alicia Le Bars, Rianne Wagner, Evelyn Payne
UW LWT B: Coxswain Emma Collins, Gracie Walker, Adeline Hinkie, Ella Springer, Marley Burgess 

Women's Open 2-
1. Wisconsin, 16:57.2; 2. Wisconsin, 17:10.0; 3. Wisconsin Lightweight A, 17:12.0; 4. Wisconsin, 17:27.7; 5. Wisconsin, 17:33.6; 6. Wisconsin, 17:53.4; 7. Wisconsin Lightweight B, 18:00.8; 8. Wisconsin Lightweight C, 18:15.1; 9. Central Oklahoma, 18:45.9; 10. Wisconsin Lightweight D, 18:46.5
UW LWT A: Maddy Stack, Payton Tonnos
UW LWT B: Georgia Harlow, Victoria Moda
UW LWT C: Sierra Mason, Romy McCarthy
UW LWT D: Olivia Moore, Helena Ikenberry