UW Sweeps Key Races At 33rd Windermere Cup

Saturday, May 4

Seattle, WA

10:00 AM

University of Washington

Windermere Cup/Opening Day

May 04, 2019 | Men's Rowing

Video Replay Full Regatta Results UW Race Results UW Men's Lineups Photo Gallery

SEATTLE – Washington's men's and women's rowing teams swept the marquee races at the 33rd annual Windermere Cup Saturday, in front of a huge crowd lining Montlake Cut.

With sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s, the turnout for the Opening Day of boating season was about as good as it gets. The weather also made for fast racing conditions for most of the races, though a headwind through the Montlake Cut picked up late.

Washington won the men's and women's Windermere and Cascade Cups, and also won all but one of the other six collegiate races, winning men's and women's third varsity eights, men's open eights and both fours events. In the Windermere Cup races, the No. 1-ranked UW women beat Germany and UCLA while the No. 2 men won against the Germans and Boston University.

Both Yasmin Farooq and Michael Callahan, the Huskies' men's and women's head coaches, cited Friday night's inaugural "Montlake Night Sprints" for their success at Saturday's main event. On Friday, the fields for the men's and women's Windermere Cups raced 600 meters down the Cut in a first-of-its-kind event for U.S. college rowing. Washington won both of those races, which each came down to the wire.

"Last night, we did the night sprints, and that was really exciting and very close," Farooq explained. "The Germans kept us honest. It came down to the final five strokes last night.

"I think everybody felt like – after such a close race last night – it was going to be really interesting today," she continued. "We talked about our start, and making it more effective. I thought the start in the varsity eight was excellent. They got off the line really well."

"We had to be aggressive from the first stroke and establish our rhythm," Callahan said. "That was a good lesson between last night and this morning."

Next for the Huskies is the postseason as both teams travel to Pac-12 Championships in two weeks, followed by NCAAs (women) and IRAs (men) two weeks after that.

"One of the reasons to bring the Germans and BU out here was because we want some of the world's best," Callahan added. "We wanted to learn about ourselves and that's what we got. They helped us raise our level."

Here are recaps of the four feature races, the men's and women's Windermere Cups and Cascade Cups:

Men's Windermere Cup
The men's Windermere Cup, which featured the varsity eights from Washington and No. 8-ranked Boston University alongside Germany, got off to a blistering start. By 500 meters, the UW eight had a two-second lead over the Germans, with Boston University another second back – each within striking distance of the others. But the Huskies' start put them in good stead as they continued to increase their lead as the crews entered the Cut, where they were met by a headwind.

Washington, coxed by Seattleite Adam Gold and stroked by Woodinville High grad Samuel Halbert, held its pace and its lead through the final portions of the race. The Huskies crossed the finish with a time of 5:42.134, with about a quarter of a length of open water back to the Germans (5:47.042). The Terriers finished a close third, in 5:49.358.

Women's Windermere Cup
Washington had both is first and second varsity eights in the women's Windermere Cup, squaring off with Germany and UCLA. The Huskies' top crew, featuring German rowers Tabea Schendekehl and Calina Schanze, rowed off the starting dock quickly and took the lead from the start, with Germany second and UCLA third initially. By 1,000 meters, the UW crew had established an open-water lead over the field and it appeared the race was on for second place as the Huskies extended their lead in the third 500. The German crew, made up mostly of Under-23 World Championships-level athletes, fought off advances from the Bruins and the Huskies' second varsity eight (stroked by German Klara Grube) and held on for second place.

Washington's varsity eight time of 6:14.379 was the third-fasted in Montlake Cut history for a women's crew, trailing only the NCAA Champion Husky varsity eight from 2017 and the Soviet Union crew from 1987's Windermere Cup. Germany finished second with a time of 6:19.883. The Husky 2V8+ edged UCLA for third place.

Men's Cascade Cup
The men's Cascade Cup featured the second varsity eights from Washington and Boston University, along with UC Santa Barbara's first varsity eight. The experienced Husky boat, featuring seniors Kimmons Wilson (cox), Andrew Gaard, Elijah Maesner and Philipp Nonnast rowed a terrific race, taking the lead from the start and rowing in the lead the entire way. Washington led by about three seconds at 500 meters and by five at 1,000 meters. The Huskies crossed the finish in 5:44.301, about three lengths of open water in front of the Terriers (5:57.237). UCSB finished in third with a time of 6:14.741.

Women's Cascade Cup
UCLA's second varsity eight got the early lead in the women's Cascade Cup, rowing past the 500-meter buoy with a lead over the Washington third varsity crew, with the top crews from Seattle Pacific and Western Washington close behind. The Bruins still led at 1,000 meters, but in the third 500, the Huskies took a lead and the two boats headed into the entrance to the Cut neck and neck. Washington's crew, coxed by Sachi Yamamoto and stroked by Ellie Bruce, took charge in front of home crowd, moving in front in the final 500 at the large crowd's urging. The Huskies won the race by a length, with a time 6:39.835, ahead of second-place UCLA (6:43.775). Seattle Pacific's first varsity eight took third place, ahead of Western Washington's top women's boat.

Up Next
Washington's men and women will head to Lake Natoma near Sacramento for the 2019 Pac-12 Championships on Sunday, May 19. Both Husky teams have won the Pac-12 title the last two years.

Washington Men's Lineups

Varsity Eight (Windermere Cup)
Shell: Chuck Holtz III
Cox: Adam Gold (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Academy)
Stroke: Samuel Halbert (Redmond, Wash./Woodinville)
7: Chris Carlson (Bedford, N.H./Brewster Academy)
6: Simon van Dorp (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
5: Madison Molitor (Moses Lake, Wash./Moses Lake)
4: David Bridges (Portland, Ore./Jesuit)
3: Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla./Citrus)
2: Tennyson Federspiel (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue)
Bow: Michiel Mantel (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Second Varsity Eight (Cascade Cup)
Shell: Grand Challenger
Cox: Kimmons Wilson (Orlando, Fla./Winter Park)
Stroke: Andrew Gaard (Madison, Wis./West)
7: George Esau (Long Lake, Minn./Orono)
6: Nick Everett (Brockville, Ont., Canada)
5: Elijah Maesner (Duvall, Wash./Eastlake)
4: Peter Lancashire (Port Macquarie, Australia)
3: Gert-Jan van Doorn (Leiden, Netherlands)
2: Philipp Nonnast (Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
Bow: Chase Deitner (Perth, Australia)

Third Varsity Eight (Men's Collegiate Freshman/3V8+)
Shell: Carl Lovsted
Cox: Kira Lewis (Belleuve, Wash./Interlake)
Stroke: Max Rennie (Deniniquin, Australia)
7: Ian Engstrom (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury)
6: Evan Olson (Bothell, Wash./Bothell)
5: Paolo Bifulco (Portland, Ore./Lincoln)
4: Felix Reinhold (Cape Town, South Africa)
3: Sebastian Ritter (Regensburg, Germany)
2: Pau Turina (Portland Ore./Benson Tech)
Bow: Carsten Rossen (Seattle, Wash./Cleveland)

Freshman Eight (Men's Collegiate Freshman/3V8+)
Shell: Warren Helgerson
Cox: Thomas Wenk (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier)
Stroke: Matt Condrin (Sacramento, Calif./Jesuit)
7: Nils Vorberg (Hamburg, Germany)
6: Vukasin Pivac (Belgrade, Serbia)
5: Mattijs Holler (Vienna, Austria)
4: Chandler Kovacevich (Snohomish, Wash./Monroe)
3: Jason Pyke (Bellevue, Wash./International School)
2: Jack Premzic (Davis, Calif./Davis Senior)
Bow: Alex Dumitriu Carcoana (Fargo, N.D./N`orthfield Mt. Hermon)

Fourth Varsity Eight (Men's Collegiate Open 8+)
Shell: Peter Allen
Cox: Zach Casler (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Stroke: Jakob Grænge Hansen (Copenhagen, Denmark)
7: Odin Slade Byrd (Chicaco, Ill./Whitney M. Young)
6: Chase Barrows (Snohomish, Wash./Archbishop Murphy)
5: Logan McKerlich (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline)
4: Jeffrey Thiers (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt
3: Austin Regier (Burien, Wash./Mount Rainier)
2: Ryan Wilkerson (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Bow: Colin Kwiecinski (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier)

Varsity Four A (Men's Collegiate Open 4+)
Shell: Clipper Too
Stroke: Cole Zwierzynski (Portland, Ore./Franklin)
3: Alexander Vollmer (Hamburg, Germany)
2: Jacob Schmidt (Gig Harbor, Wash./Bellarmine Prep)
Bow: Elliott de Bruin (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell)
Cox: Isabel Klein (Seattle, Wash./University Prep)

Varsity Four B (Men's Collegiate Open 4+)
Shell: Little Husky
Stroke: David Zachry (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
3: Jack Kirtley (St. Charles, Ill./Marmion)
2: Nathan Klaff (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge)
Bow: Drew Butler (Redmond, Wash./Redmond)
Cox: Max Schwartzkopff (Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

About Washington Rowing
Rowing at University of Washington was established in 1901 with support from the local business community. In 1903, Washington entered its first intercollegiate race and defeated California, starting their storied "Cal Dual" rivalry. From this beginning, UW crews became the champions in the nation, winning the Gold Medal in the Olympics in 1936 as described in the New York Times bestseller The Boys in the Boat. UW has continued its tradition of winning championships and Olympic medals, and today is one of the best university rowing programs in the world. With its state-of-the-art training facility located on the UW campus right on the shores of Lake Washington, surrounded by mountains and in close proximity to the iconic Montlake Cut, Washington Rowing attracts the best men and women student-athletes from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. More information at GoHuskies.com, WashingtonRowing.com and @UW_Rowing.