Introducing The UW Women's Rowing Class Of 2023

UW women's rowing freshman, class of 2023

March 19, 2020 | Women's Rowing

One of the longstanding traditions surrounding Washington's annual Class Day Regatta is the introduction of the new class of freshmen who have joined the program.

The coming of Class Day, which was to be held this Saturday, March 21, marks the traditional start of the season and also the official unveiling of the full roster, including the newcomers.

While this year's Class Day, along with the rest of all athletic competitions through the end of the school year, have been canceled, please join UW women's rowing and its many proud alumnae in welcoming the Class of 2023.

"While I am heartbroken that our time together this year was cut short, being able to witness these young women's journey of discovery, hard work, bravery, and risk taking this year has been an honor," said UW freshman coach Marlee Blue '19. "This class has impressed me in countless ways, but I think it's their bravery in chasing the unknown and not allowing themselves to be limited by goals or preconceptions that means the most. Can't wait for the next four years!"

The UW women's team's newest group of athletes includes 29 individuals – 25 rowers and four coxswains. It includes 27 freshmen and a true sophomore, as well as a third-year student who had previously competed on the UW track & field team. There are 13 newcomers from Washington, nine Americans from outside of our state, plus seven international students, representing six different countries.

As always, some are new to the sport of rowing while others have years of high-level experience. But together, they will form an ever-strengthening nucleus that will help guide the UW women on to future accomplishments.

The seven internationals came to Conibear Shellhouse from the Netherlands, England, Wales, Germany, New Zealand and Australia.

Angharad Broughton (Cardiff, Wales) rowed for Great Britain in the women's quad at the 2019 World Rowing Junior Championships and was in the UW varsity eight that beat USC last month. Germany Patricia Schwarzhuber represented her nation at Junior Worlds in 2017 and 2018 and rowed in the four seat in the German women's eight at Under-23 Worlds last summer.

Brooke Kilmister (Waihi Beach, New Zealand) won a bronze medal in the women's straight four at 2018 Junior Worlds and stroked the UW's A entry at Head of the Charles last fall. The other Kiwi in in the bunch, Bella Carter, won two golds and a silver at the 2019 New Zealand National Championships. Aussie Nikki Martincic is another of the most experienced of the group, having rowed for her country at the Junior Worlds in 2018 and at Under-23 Worlds in 2019.

Dutch rower Isabel van Opzeeland enrolled last fall, but has been taking winter and spring quarters off to prepare for the Olympics. She has competed in the last three World Rowing Junior Championships – twice in the single and once in the coxless four.

Londoner Abby Adebiyi has extensive experience in the U.K., rowing for Tideway Scullers and Shrewsbury School, where she won numerous accolades in national regattas.

Closer to home, there are 13 Washingtonians in the group, including two coxswains. Most hail from the King County: coxswains Izzy Angulo (Holy Names) and Jemma Clark (Shorewood), along with rowers Romy Forster (Holy Names), Greta Gunning (King's), Renee Hopper (Issaquah), Alex Lalor (Eastlake), Victoria Park (The Bush School), Audrey Tarr (The Northwest School), and sophomore Farima Zohali (Newport).

The remaining four in-state newcomers aren't from much farther away: Olivia Brunner-Gaydos (Orcas Island), Elise Matheson (Olympia), Haley Stoker (Bellingham) and Katherine Slack (Everett/Kamiak), who ran middle distance for the UW track team the previous two years.

The nine out-of-state newcomers joined the team from seven different states: coxswains Carina Baxter (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) and Cece Wendel (Springfield, Pa.); and rowers Isabelle Boniface (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Bryn Carter (Stillwater, Minn.), Patricia Finnegan (Huntington, N.Y.), Mikayla Messinger (Upper Arlington, Ohio), Maddie Murphy (Orlando, Fla.), Madison Peebles (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), and Jackie Scanapico (Syosset, N.Y.).

Several of these women have already had the chance to row for the UW, at head races last fall and vs. USC in February, but their next shot at competing in the purple and gold will have to wait. Eventually, their hours of hard work and dedication to the program will surely be rewarded.