Winsor Crew Finds Speed and Spirit on the Charles

More than 250 supporters gathered on the dock at the Winsor Belmont Hill Boat House to root for the Winsor crew at the 60th Head of the Charles Regatta. “I hope everyone gets the chance to experience what a special treat it is to be a part of the Winsor community on such a prestigious day in the rowing world,” said Director of Rowing and Lisa Stone Chair for Crew Maura Flanagan. On Sunday, October 19, following Spirit Week and Under the Lights, Winsor crew took to the water with three boats racing. For the second time, 19 athletes competed for Winsor across three categories—the Women’s Youth 4+, Women’s Under 17 4+, and Women’s Youth 8+.

The Head of the Charles Regatta is the largest rowing competition in the world, and many alums and their families return to the Winsor Belmont Hill Boat House, which boasts a prime view of the course at a pivotal turn by the Eliot Bridge, to watch the races. “It was wonderful to see Winsor alum families back on the dock cheering for the Winsor team as they waited for their daughters’ collegiate races to begin,” said Coach Flanagan, Adding, “I spoke with many alums who said that their favorite part about Head of the Charles is coming back to the dock because even though they don’t know the current athletes, seeing the Winsor oars makes them feel at home.”

The Winsor rowers in the U17 4+ (comprised of 4-Ginny Choe ’27, 3-Talia Ziblatt ’27, 2-Angeliki Agape Volandes ’28, 1-Ava Petruzziello ’27, C-Leila Pan ’28) literally danced into the boathouse before the sun rose and had an incredible race against an extremely fast field, even collecting a bow ball along the way. The U17 race was so quick that a new course record of 18:36.236 was set and eight crews broke the previous 19:14 time. While Ginny held the stroke rate to a composed 31 and led the crew down the course, the bow three followed her lead and negative-splitted on the straightaways, finishing with a time of 19:23. This placed the Winsor crew as the fastest of all United States high school crews, second fastest high school crew, and 11th place overall.

Later that morning, the Winsor Varsity 8+ (comprised of 8-Youjin Choi ’26, 7-Annabel Jones ’27, 6-Caitlin Weeks ’28, 5-Kathy Wang ’28, 4-Leela Uppaluri ’26, 3-Annie Fitzpatrick ’29, 2-Evelyn Tian ’28, 1-Louisa Furman ’26, C-Yasmeen Alam ’27) competed in the toughest race at the regatta for Youth Women and were met with some exciting competition. “This crew was a perfect representation of the Winsor team as the boat had athletes from every single grade—a freshman, three sophomores, two juniors, and three seniors,” said Coach Flanagan. The crew held the stroke rate to 32 for the majority of the race, maintaining their form and implementing the technical changes Yasmeen asked for during the race. In the pre-race plan, the crew discussed how their goal was to row their very best and improve upon the previous races this season. They successfully beat Arlington Belmont—the only crew to have bested them at Paper City—a huge win for the season. Propelled by cheers from the Winsor dock coming out of the Eliot Bridge, the Varsity 8+ began catching a little cleaner and dug a little deeper to finish the course. By the last 200m, they worked together to empty the tank and move the boat as fast as they could. While the boat was not able to reclaim the bid for next year, they placed 76th out of 90 crews. “This is an extremely competitive race,” said Coach Flanagan. “The 8+ learned a lot about facing tough competition and fighting through the end. I am so proud of their performance.”

The Winsor 4+ (comprised of 4-Sabina Stevens ’26, 3-Leila Ness ’26, 2-Ella Troalic ’27, 1-Aria Wang ’26, C-Zaara Mehra ’26) exploded though the start line and began to hunt down bow seven. “They rowed cleanly and smoothly, but pushed themselves to the limit, hitting splits that they had not seen yet this season,” said Coach Flanagan. In doing so, they placed 6th out of 86 crews, the highest Winsor bow marker since 2012. This awarded them the Met Cup. The Metropolitan District Commission Cup is presented annually to the Massachusetts high school that posts the most competitive time in Youth Fours or Youth Eights, Men’s and Women’s.

Not all Winsor rowers were in Winsor uniforms at the Head of the Charles. Frances McAleer ’26 coxed a Women’s Youth 4x+ for the Hockaday School all the way from Texas. Frances called the crew ahead of time, strategized a race plan, and motivated them the entire way down the course. “Frances proved her skill on the Charles River by steering an incredible 4591m course—knocking seconds off of the clock for Hockaday,” said Coach Flanagan. Sophomore Sreeja Ghosh ’28 took the opportunity to race the Head of the Charles as a coxswain in a Men’s Youth 4x+. For one week prior to the regatta, Sreeja got to know a group of athletes from Riverside Boat Club, just a few meters down the river. “She steered an amazing course,” said Coach Flanagan, who noted that multiple spectators along the river commended her unbelievable turn at the Eliot Bridge.

“Overall, the Winsor team walked away with fantastic results,” said Coach Flanagan of their Head of the Charles appearance. “Ultimately Winsor requalified two boats for next year, and had a blast on the dock with amazing support from families, friends, and alums.”