Spring racing can only properly kick off in one place for CBC and that place is San Diego! Racing in the Youth Womens 8+ category has been a long standing tradition for all 15 generations of River Rats. It is a beloved race by our team as the girls love California, the venue, eating at in-n-out burger, and it’s the most sunshine the girls have seen in several months.
Winter 2026 in Connecticut was historically cold. Which means that the girls didn’t begin their on the water training until a few weeks prior to competing at the San Diego Crew Classic. As much as everyone would have loved a few more weeks of seat racing and water time at the end of the day, nothing really gets these girls monkeyed up (they are ready and up for any challenge)!
The 8+ had a great swing row practice on Friday giving Sophomore coxswain, Mishi Khamish the opportunity to run the course for the first time. Although young, Khamish has excelled in leading her boats across many finish lines in various East Coast venues. The opportunity to add her first West Coast course was something she was looking forward to. To which she delivered, the crew had a good and clean heats race on Saturday. Program Head Coach Liz Trond shared how the boat discussed their heats race and made their goal, tangible changes (improvements) for the B final on Sunday.
Northeastern commit Layla Sisca stroked the boat, a seat she is very comfortable dominating from. Working together with Khamish, they gave their crew outstanding leadership. Junior powerhouses Brooke LeBaron and Camilla Calderwood added tremendous speed to the boat in 7 and 6 seat. Emily Goertel and Skye Coats raced in the middle of the haul where their power and technique was critical to the boats success. Three fast seniors sat in bow 3 of the 8+ where they were the first to cross the finish line: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill commit, Christina Charnin (3 seat) and University of Boston commits, Norah Surette (2 seat) and Kamryn Morgenstern (1 seat).
Christina Charnin commented, ‘We had a great collective competitive mindset and I was happy to race my heart out!’ This reflection came hours after the B Finals race on Sunday. The River Rats had a strong start but they weren’t the only ones! CBC battled down the course with Saint Ignatius’s crew, giving the crowd at the beach more than one reason to cheer. Ultimately, CBC crossed the finish line first with a time of 7:15 (2 seconds ahead of Saint Ignatius). The crew was thrilled to have finished first in their final! Charnin continued, ‘Our finals race went well because we pinpointed what we wanted to work on and executed a great change in our ratio.’
The entire team will be back on the race course at the upcoming Mercer Sprints Regatta! Please continue to follow/support our team on social media.
See you next year, San Diego! Congratulations to all crews!
