Women's Crew Year to Date

Photo by: Brown Athletics

2/11/2026 3:06:00 PM | Women's Crew

By: Sofia Yena Barna

As the 2026 spring season quickly approaches for Brown women's crew, here is a fall recap.

Written by team manager Sofia Yena Barna, edited by Alex Evangelista.

DARTMOUTH

On October 4th, we traveled to Hanover, New Hampshire, to row in a friendly yet spirited scrimmage with the Dartmouth women. In the midst of head-race training for the Head of the Charles Regatta, our rowers were eager to showcase their competitive spirit and the determination of Brown Women's Crew.

Our Brown Bears and Dartmouth's Big Green rowed two long-distance pieces on the Connecticut River, surrounded by tall trees and changing leaves. In typical head-race fashion, Dartmouth started with a staggered launch, allowing our Bruno women to chase during the first piece.

With resolve and determination, our Brown women kicked off the 2025-2026 athletic year, competing fiercely until the finish line. After switching in four new coxswains, our Bears prepared for a fresh opportunity to test their strength and endurance. The second piece featured a reverse start order, with our Brown 1V leading the charge to the Friends of Dartmouth Rowing Boathouse. We are grateful to Dartmouth Women's Crew for the opportunity to row with them at the start of our fall season. Sharing locally made chocolate milk, we look forward to future events together and hope to build a lasting friendship with Dartmouth's Big Green!

HEAD OF THE CHARLES
Saturday
On Saturday, Oct. 18, Brown Women's Crew raced in the Women's Club Four event, the first club race our Bruno women have competed in for many years. The race began at 1:04 p.m., coxed by Katherine Mitchell and stroked by Olivia On Saturday, Oct. 18, Brown Women's Crew competed in the Women's Club Four event, the first club race our Bruno women have entered in many years. The race started at 1:04 p.m., with Katherine Mitchell as coxswain and Olivia Tingley-Kelley stroking the boat. They achieved an impressive fourth-place finish, crossing the line at 18:13.318, after starting in 26th place and significantly surpassing their seed. The team members had diverse racing backgrounds, but all rose to the challenge.

LINEUP Club 4+
B: Sydney Chait-Walter
2: Sophia Smith
3: Violet Lombardo
S: Olivia Tingley-Kelley
C: Katherine Mitchell

Sunday
Starting at 1:35 p.m., the BWC Champ 4+ boat, coxed by Fiona Daly and stroked by Ellie Knight, sped down the course. Completing the race in 17:49.541, the 4+ secured a strong sixth-place overall finish and fourth among college crews.

Brown Women's Crew had two boats in the 2:42 p.m. Women's Championship Eights race. The varsity boat, coxed by Summer Balla-Kellet and stroked by Adair Beck, finished sixth with a time of 15:45.743. They started sixth and finished sixth overall, battling a tough race. Trying to hold off Moelsey Boat Club (UK) and Oxford University (UK), BWC stayed centralized and posted the third-fastest time to Riverside at the start. Overall, the Brown varsity boat finished third among college crews, with the top three all finishing within 1.5 seconds.

The Brown junior varsity boat was coxed by Caitlyn Roddy and stroked by Nicole Urquiaga, finishing with a time of 16:13.989 in 14th place. The junior varsity faced a tough seed, having to hold off a fast Radcliffe varsity team from the start. Ultimately, Brown finished third among junior varsity crews, narrowly behind Radcliffe's junior varsity and a quick Yale junior varsity lineup.

The Women's Championship Eights race this year was especially action-packed. The event challenged our coxswains with excitement, as they competed against several Olympic-level rowers and navigated through many lead changes and seed upsets.

LINEUPS
Varsity
B: Lizzie Hedeman
2: Eugenia Rodriguez-Vazquez
3: Mary Claire Warren
4: Holly Crews
5: Sadie Bell
6: Tessa Tomkinson
7: Keira Hale
S: Adair Beck
C: Summer Balla-Kellet

Junior Varsity
B: Maeve O'Connell
2: Calissa Snyder Cox
3: Annabelle Harbold
4: Ellie Graham
5: Louisa McLaughlin
6: Charlotte Moody
7: Madeleine Young
S: Nicole Urquiaga
C: Caitlyn Roddy

Champ 4+
B: Sophie Perkel
2: Anna Beinhocker
3: Ella Bogue
S: Ellie Knight
C: Fiona Daly

URI
On November 8th, our Bruno women held a friendly scrimmage against the University of Rhode Island Rams.

With this being our last competition against another team on the water before the spring season, our athletes were eager to apply the past several weeks of training to a game-day competitive mindset. We thank the Rams, who joined our four 8+ Bruno boats with three 8+ Rams boats for a full morning of racing. The scrimmage included two longer pieces and some shorter ones.

The first piece tested the athletes' racing mentality by starting the morning with a long-distance row focused on endurance. Both our Brown Bears and the URI Rams showed promising results, indicating they are prepared for the upcoming pieces.

For the second piece, we shuffled rowers around to ensure all athletes could race. The piece was longer and involved more challenging steering, yet both teams maintained a strong racing spirit. Both teams held their own in the shorter pieces, especially URI's third 8+, with everyone leaving the course feeling confident that all our hard work in training is turning us into formidable competitors.

We are very grateful to the URI Rams Women's Crew for their commitment to compete. After the water, both teams shared a bagel breakfast, highlighting the camaraderie between the Brown Bears and the URI Rams.
Rest assured, we are proud of how much we've accomplished as a team in these first months of the athletic year, and we look forward to what winter training will bring! With spring season quickly approaching, all we can do is hope to improve and be ready for a bold season of competition. Go Bruno!

Florida Winter Training
Brown Women's Crew's annual training trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida recently took place at the end of winter break. The ten-day trip provides crucial time on the water, allowing our BWC to hone in on key aspects of the race without distraction.

The team arrived ready to compete and get faster from day one. Along with lots of hard meters came team bonding and creating memories that will set this group up for a historical spring season. BWC heads back to Providence as a united front, ready to take on racing come March.

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