Worcester, MA – The Williams Women's Crew 1V finished third in the grand final in the New England Rowing Championships. The 2V and 3V boats also secured places in their respective grand final races, but their races were canceled due to high winds.
In the morning heats, the Women's 1V and 2V had to place in the top two, and the 3V had to place top three to make it to the grand finals.
The Women's 1V faced Tufts, Smith, Coast Guard, Connecticut College, and Mt. Holyoke. Ariana Oppenheimer '26 coxed the boat, with Isabel Mikheev '25 in stroke seat, followed by Ellie Davis '26, Vivian Johnson '27, Carolyn Fortin '26, Sophia Clavenna '27, Prairie Resch '25, Abby Murphy '25, and Claire McDonald '26 in bow.
The Jumbos got off the start first, and the Ephs held contact with the Tufts boat through the thousand-meter mark. Behind Williams, Smith rowed a few seats down in third place as the six crews crossed the thousand-meter mark. The Ephs gained an open water lead over Smith going into the last 500 meters, rowing to a second place finish. Tufts crossed the line first with a time of 7:03.992, and Williams crossed the line in second place with a time of 7:08.688.
In the 2V heat, the crew lined up alongside MIT, Smith, Middlebury and Mt. Holyoke with coxswain Katie Scott '26 and Courtney FitzMaurice '27 in stroke seat, followed by Audrey Riddle '26, Ellie Iorio '25, Catherine Farman-Farmaian '26, Molly McWeeny '26, Maya Tait '26, Grace McLaughlin '28, and Arden Fluehr '25 in bow.
MIT got an early lead over the field, but Williams held on to second place, ahead of Smith. The Ephs kept their second place position through the middle of the race, and held off a push from Smith in the last 500 meters to secure a spot in the grand final. The boat finished with a time of 7:21.074, six seconds behind MIT and one second ahead of Smith.
"What made our moves powerful in the heat was doing them for each other and we executed this race how we've practiced all week," seven-seat Riddle said.
The 3V raced last, against Bates, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, and Connecticut College. Ayanna Keshav '28 coxed the boat, with Lindsay Gadsden '27 in stroke seat, followed by Maddy Andersen '25, Katie McKenna '25, Ella Potee '25, Laela Clark '28, Isolde Rayman-Moore '28, Charlotte Ragozin '27, and Ava Rust '25 in bow.
The Ephs crossed the 500-meter mark with a few seats of a lead over the field, but all boats rowed overlapping one another. Through the middle of the race, Bates pushed ahead to first, and Bowdoin, Wellesley, and Wesleyan rowed a boat length down from Williams.
"I was challenging my boat to hold them, but we made a decision not to go full out on the sprint," coxswain Keshav said.
Bates crossed the line first with a time of 8:19.603, four seconds ahead of second-place Williams.
With three second-place finishes, all Eph boats secured places in the afternoon's grand finals.
The 1V set out on the water first, facing a headwind on the course that had picked up considerably since the morning races. The crew lined up next to MIT, Tufts, Trinity, Wesleyan, and Bates.
The crews struggled to lock onto the stake boats amidst headwind gusts reaching above 30 mph. After a false start, the coxswains battled with the wind, attempting to get their boats lined up straight at the start line.
With the second start, the crews got off the start line successfully but rowing against a strong headwind. MIT gained an early lead of half a length over the field, and Williams, Tufts, and Wesleyan rowed even with each other as the crews crossed the 500-meter mark.
As the crews crossed the halfway mark, Williams rowed in third place, four seats down on Tufts and four seats up on Wesleyan. In the last 500 meters of the race, first-place MIT and second-place Tufts pushed ahead of the field, and Williams held off a strong push from Trinity.
MIT crossed the finish line first with a time of 7:53.948, followed by Tufts with a time of 7:56.838, and Williams with a time of 8:11.535. The Williams 1V crossed the line five seconds ahead of Trinity, nine seconds ahead of Wesleyan, and 16 seconds ahead of Bates.
Shortly after the Women's 1V race, the officials decided to cancel all races due to the growing winds and an approaching thunderstorm.
"We were grateful we got to have our heat, and knowing now that we didn't have a final we wish had gone hard in the heat, but we controlled the things we could control," 3V coxswain Keshav said.
"We wanted to row home as hard as we could, but then the officials told us to slow down," 2V seven-seat Riddle said. "We all feel fired up for the next one."
Next weekend, the Ephs will return to Worcester to race in the National Invitational Rowing Championships, the outcome of which will also determine the NESCAC champion.
