BOTSON – The Wisconsin women's rowing team participated in its second race of the season at the Head of the Charles regatta on Sunday.
The Badgers competed against some of the top rowers in the nation on the three-mile Charles River course. The Wisconsin women's championship four placed 12th in its boat class with a time of 19:12.665, just under a minute off of medal pace.
The California A team took the top spot, completing the course in 17:17.557, followed by Ukraine A in second (18:00.349) and Columbia University A in third (18:29.217).
UW alumni got to join in the fun as well, with former Badgers putting together a star-studded boat in the women's alumnae eight. The alumnae eights came in 11th.
The Badger alumnae eight included Olympians Maddie Wanamaker, Grace Latz, Vicky Opitz (current Badgers' head coach) and coxswain Yasmin Farooq (current Washington coach), as well as current lightweight assistant and former national team rower Grace D'Souza, current Washington assistant Allie Lohrenz. Former USRowing U23 national teamer and UW lightweight Dani Dewitt, former UW varsity eight-member Jennifer Haus and 2010 Big Ten champ and 2009 NCAA varsity four runner-up Briana Pittman also raced in the boat.
Straight from the Shore
Head Coach Vicky Opitz
On the team's performance
"I would say it was a good step in working on a lot of things that we've been trying to continue on since the Head of the Oklahoma both in practice and in race scenarios."
On the Head of the Charles regatta
"It's always fun to go to the [Head of the] Charles, it's an opportunity to line up against a lot of the best crews in our country, and honestly in the world. It's always wonderful to be on the banks of the Charles [River] and cheer everybody on."
On training for the next race
"I can confidently say for both our squads, definitely specifically for the openweights, we'll be jumping back into some good training and looking forward to getting more into our technical and harder work focuses."
Up Next: The Badgers will host a scrimmage versus the University of Minnesota and Eastern Michigan University on Sunday, Nov. 4 in Madison.
Head of the Charles
Oct. 22, 2023
Boston
Charles River
3 miles
Women's Championship Fours (22 entries)
1. California A, 17:17.557; 2. Ukraine A, 18:00.349; 3. Columbia University A, 18:29.217; 12. Wisconsin A, 19:12.665
UW Lineup - Coxswain Lindsey Meyer, Sophia Ortega, Nora Byrne, Grace Belson, Olivia Meskan
