The Eastern Michigan women’s rowing team competed in Head of the Grand, Head of the Charles and Head of the Hooch. The 2019-20 campaign started Oct. 5 and finished Nov. 2.
The Eagles finished Head of the Grand with two wins over Michigan State and Grand Valley State.
Eastern Michigan participated in seven races, and all boats finished in third place or higher. At the end of Head of the Grand, the V4+ boat finished with the first win at 11:59 over Michigan State, Grand Valley State, Case Western, North Park and Adrian.
Following behind was the 2V4+ boat that claimed a win with a first-place finish in its race. The remaining four 8+ teams finished in second place, and the 3V4+ finished at third place.
The Eagles then competed in Head of the Charles on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Eagles finished in fifth place, which was the school’s best finish at the event in program history. Eastern Michigan beat teams from the University of Pennsylvania, Louisville, North Carolina, Boston College, Boston University, UConn, Penn State and Illinois during the event.
Eastern Michigan went on to compete in Head of the Hooch at Chattanooga, Tennessee Nov. 2. This event was the final race of the fall schedule, and the Eagles claimed a win during this event. Program history was made yet again with the novice boats posting a program-best finish in both races of the event.
The novice 4+, consisting of freshmen Lena McCaslin, Emma Boersen, Alexis Kettler, Kaialani Knox and Hailee Hull, captured the win for the Eagles. The team finished with a time of 18:26.012, which was the programs best. The Eagles respectively took the sixth and 12th place with times of 15:38.375 and 16:31.066.
This year’s sixth-place finish is now tied for the best Championship 8+ finish set in 2018. Meanwhile, the 12th-place finish improved a spot from last year’s finish. A part of the novice 8+ boat was McCaslin, Boersen, Kettler, Knox, Lauren Ahern, Chloe Hinojosa, Saule Matekonis, Ariel Sutton and Hull.
The team captured another program-best second-place finish on the 5k course with a time of 17:31.206. The Eagles beat boats from Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisville, North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia, NC State, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt in this event.
The spring schedule for the Eagles will begin on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 against Alabama and Southern Methodist University in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Eagles will have five tournaments in total for their spring schedule, which wraps up on Sunday, May 17.
