Over the weekend, both women’s rowing teams continued their seasons with regattas on opposite sides of the country. The women’s rowing team rowed in the Lake Natoma Invitational in Sacramento, while the lightweight team traveled to New Jersey for the annual Knecht Cup. After two full days of races, both teams emerged with several victories.
The No. 6 ranked Stanford women’s rowing ran up against difficult competition at Lake Natoma, facing off against top schools from around the country, including Notre Dame, Gonzaga, Clemson, Brown, and Cal. The Cardinal had three total NCAA boats competing in the weekend’s activities: their first and second varsity eights, and their varsity four.
The Saturday morning session of races began with the Cardinal boats squaring off against Gonzaga and Clemson. All three boats placed first in their morning races with the first varsity eight finishing in 6:19.62, the second varsity eight finishing in 6:29.30, and the varsity four recording a time of 7:08.11.
Saturday afternoon, the Stanford women raced against Notre Dame and Sacramento state. Once again, the Cardinal boats came away with a clean sweep of the races. The first varsity eight improved their earlier time, finishing in 6:17.67, as did the second varsity eight, completing the course in 6:24.12. The varsity four won their race at a slightly slower pace than earlier, finishing with a 7:11.56.
The final races came on Sunday, as the Cardinal squared off against No. 2 ranked Cal and No. 9 ranked Brown. The first varsity eight placed second in their race, finishing just five seconds after Cal with a time of 6:23.61. The second varsity eight and the varsity four fell short in their races, both taking third place finishes with times of 6:31.24 and 7:12.40 respectively.
Meanwhile in New Jersey, the women’s lightweight team posted three Grand Final victories as well as a third place finish in their appearance at the Knecht Cup. Having won the lightweight eight grand final last year, the team was looking to defend their crown and show off their prowess in its lone East Coast trip this year. They did just that, as the Cardinal women won the lightweight eight title over Boston University and Princeton with a time of 6:44.26.
The women’s lightweight cleaned house in the openweight and lightweight four races as well. The lightweight four took down Tulsa and North Carolina competing in the openweight final with a time of 7:38.32, and then beat Radcliffe by almost 10 seconds in the lightweight final with a time of 7:35.76. In the openweight eight grand finals, the Stanford boat fell to Boston University and Miami, finishing just four seconds after the first-place Miami team with a time of 6:47.36. The weekend proved to be a successful road trip for the lightweight team and new coach Kate Bertko.
Both teams return to the water on April 29th, at slightly different venues. The women’s rowing team will compete against Cal in the Big Row at Redwood Shores, while the lightweight team will head to the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships at Lake Natoma.
Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu.