Skimming The Surface

Husky Rowing Teams bring magic again to the waters on Montlake Cut

BY MARK MOSCHETTI • CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The weather wasn’t great and the course was shortened. But they were racing. For the University of Washington rowing teams, that ultimately was what mattered more than anything else.

After missing out on the 2020 Head of the Lake Regatta — their signature fall schedule event — when it was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic, the Huskies were back on the route from Lake Union, through the Montlake Cut, and onto Lake Washington.

On a foggy first Sunday of November, the Husky men cruised to victory in the men’s collegiate open 8+ race, finishing 29 seconds in front of Oregon State. Washington also won the second varsity eight event. The women were even more dominant, snagging the top two spots in the championship race.

Because of the conditions, the course was shortened from two miles from its usual length of three. Even so, head women’s coach Yasmin Farooq and head men’s coach Michael Callahan were just glad to be out there — and generally liked what they saw — especially from the younger Huskies, many of whom were rowing in their first collegiate competition.

“The championship eights race — with two UW boats — was a great opportunity to provide our rowers with a terrific competitive experience — one they can build on,” Farooq told gohuskies. com. “We were able to see an excellent group of freshmen — including walk-ons in their first month of rowing — competing for the first time in the JV eights race.”

Added Callahan, “I am excited by the performance of our second varsity and our freshmen. They look like a very solid class.”

While the Head of the Lake is always a redletter day on the Washington fall rowing calendar, the men came fashioned another red-letter day for themselves two weeks prior that on Oct. 24 at the Head of the Charles in Boston.

Rowing in third place at the final checkpoint before the finish line of the three-mile event on the Charles River, the Huskies surged past both Dartmouth and Yale on the final stretch. With senior coxswain Zach Casler making his varsity debut, Washington, which was in first place early on before dropping behind reached the wire in 13 minutes, 59.432 seconds. That was fast enough to edge Dartmouth by two seconds (14:01.513) and Yale by three (14:02.459) in the 57th annual version of the race.

When the 2022 spring championship season arrives on the calendar, the UW women certainly will head into it with some momentum. They made sure of that on Nov. 13 when they closed out their brief fall schedule with a dominant performance at the Head of the Lagoon Regatta in Foster City, California.

The Huskies put together 1-2 finishes in the collegiate eights and the collegiate fours. The eights comprised crews who had competed in pairs and fours earlier in the day. The boat coxed by senior Nina Castagna logged a winning time of 17:59.1, and the second one, coxed by junior Carina Baxter, clocked 18:10.5.

Haley Stoker, a junior from Bellingham about 85 miles north of Washington’s campus, stroked the victorious four, while Claire Surbeck, a sophomore from just across Lake Washington in Bellevue, stroked the secondplace shell.

“It was a special end to the fall season on the road with a racing squad comprised of people of every level of experience — from freshmen walk-on rowers to fifth-year seniors,” Farooq said after the race. “The Lagoon is a challenging and beautiful course. We had some excellent intrasquad competition in pairs (UW was the only school with pairs entries — six altogether) and then got to face more West Coast crews in the fours and eights.”

Washington’s rowers will spend the winter months focusing on training for the spring, with that season beginning in next March. The women will be up first, competing in Las Vegas on March 5, while the men will set their sights on the Class Day Regatta on March 19.

WOMEN'S HEAD COACH Yasmin Farooq

MEN'S HEAD COACH Michael Callahan