Welcome to Fall 2025 racing River Rats fan club! The girls kicked off the official racing season with the Head of the Housatonic last weekend. Although the small boats races were cancelled due to bad Shelton CT storms the four and eight boat races remained unaffected. The Housatonic line-ups ultimately ended up being the Head of the Charles (HOCR) line-ups. The athletes mentioned how great of a foundation last weekend served leading into the highly anticipated weekend in Boston MA!
There were many races to watch for the CBC followers as current, alumni and coaches raced the famous Charles River this weekend. The 3-day largest international regatta kicked off for CBC fans on Saturday with 4 CBC alums racing the Club 8 category for each of their respective universities. 2025 Captain, Izzy Khamish (Princeton Freshman) steered the Club 8 to a 7th place finish and absolutely nailed every turn on the Charles River! This event felt like a Class of 2024 reunion for Ava Weneck (Harvard), Lila Seidenberg (Drexel) and Callaghan Nickerson (Boston College). With I.Khamish’s crew winning best time overall for the alums, Callaghan Nickerson raced fiercely in her BC 7 seat and finished 2 seconds after I.Khamish’s Princeton boat. Nickerson and I.Khamish won the Head of the Charles together as CBC teammates in 2023. Lila and Ava’s boats led the times for the middle of the pack in this event (Drexel finished 1 second ahead of Harvard). Seidenberg dominated from 6 seat while Weneck mastered the craft of 2 seat and helped her boat move from 42nd place to finishing 25th overall! Varsity Coach, Mitz Carr not only raced but won first place in the Directors’ Challenge Mixed Quad. Carr supported her stroke seat with her power and blade strike in 3 seat. Two CBC legendary River Rat Captains, Meg Galloway (Yale Alum) and Bridget Galloway (Harvard Alum) raced as well in the Mixed Quad event along with their brother, Liam Galloway and amazing mother, Colleen Galloway!
“It was my first HOCR! It was so exciting and I couldn’t be more proud of my boat!” Shared Mishi Khamish as her boat kicked off the High School River Rats racing on Sunday. M.Khamish’s first time down the course was definitely a classic HOCR thriller…yielding calls, 4 boats under Anderson at the same time, blades 5 inches away from the bridge and starboard pressure calls. Following in her two older sisters foot steps, she steered a course that her boat was proud of. M.Khamish’s U17 4+ was stroked by Emily Goertel, 3 seat Leighton Busby, 2 seat Brooke LeBaron and bowed by Noelle Basta. The crew started 22nd this year and after passing boats and taking inside turns they finished in 7th place (fastest on the Norwalk River and in Connecticut!)
The morning continued with the Youth Coxed Quads race. The CBC quad was driven by Senior Coxswain, Jiah Baak, stroked by senior captain Sophia Kearns, 3 seat powerhouse Christina Charnin, 2 seat junior boat mover Skye Coats, and bow seat force Katie Estabrook. The crew came off of an amazing gold medal finish last weekend at the Head of the Housatonic. Baak is an incredible senior leader and led this boat to a strong start and a strong finish! The River Rats finished 3rd against Connecticut crews and 25th overall in the event. We will miss this boat (almost) full of seniors next year but are so proud of them.
In the third and final CBC event, Junior coxswain Allison Murray led the Varsity 4+ to an 11th place finish. Murray shared with excitement, “I AM SO HAPPY” after the race where fans watched her perfect peel off of the big turn and into the Elliott Bridge. The crew was stroked by senior captain, Layla Sisca for the 2nd year in a row. This year, with more experience and confidence in the stroke seat Sisca led the boat to an outstanding finish after starting in bow 15. Layla was supported by 3 seat Norah Surette, 2 seat Camilla Calderwood and senior captain Kam Morgenstern in bow. Sisca shared, “The race went great. It was fun getting to come off the start line and immediately close in on another boat. Getting to pass another boat that early on in the race helped us with our momentum during the rest of the race.”
All of the River Rats bleed green forever but Class of 2024 alums Caroline Krantz and Annika Nelson bleed green 2x as they represented Dartmouth College in the Women’s Championship 8 event. Not only did these two Dartmouth sophomores earn their seat in Dartmouth’s top boat but they are back to the high school days of being stern pair, pair partners!! The Big Green girls finished 5th in the College Championship Category. After not making the trip up to Boston last year, Duke University made a strong return to the Head of the Charles this year. The legendary High School teammates Sophia Greco (Duke Senior Rower) and Mia Khamish (Duke Senior Coxswain) took the Women’s Championship 8 by storm! Mia last raced the event in October 2023 when she won a gold medal for Duke. Starting with bow 22 this year (last to start the head race) she quickly started to make her move and steer her best line. Mia and Sophia led their Varsity 8 to a 10th place finish in the College Championship Category ahead of both Rhode Island University and Fordham University, and only 1 second behind Northeastern (whom the Charles River is their home course).
Yes, you read this correctly for the first time in Head of the Charles history, there were 3 coxswain sisters racing on the same weekend! CBC is notorious for starting trends and I suppose this is our newest one. The girls loved seeing/supporting US Rowing National Team athletes, Erin Reelick (CBC Class of 2012, Princeton Alum) and Kaitlyn Kynast (CBC Class of 2017, Stanford Alum). As always, this weekend brings together multiple generations of River Rats, it is full of hugs, lessons learned, world class racing and hard work paying off in multiple ways.
We are back on the race course next weekend at the Head of the Fish!
