54 New UW Women's Rowers Set For Class Day Debut

March 20, 2025 | Women's Rowing

Class Day is Washington Rowing's oldest and most enduring traditions. Since 1901, the regatta has marked the opening the season and has served as the teams' official introduction of its newcomers to supporters and fans.

This year, the class of newcomers for the UW women's program is even more impressive than usual, both in its size and in its breadth of experience.

"In the 50 years that Washington has had a varsity women's rowing team, it's always been about incredible student-athletes who are passionate about making boats go fast, who love pulling for one another and who are grateful to row in one of our sport's most sacred places," said UW women's team head coach Yasmin Farooq. "Some oarswomen take their very first strokes here. Some learn in area programs. Some are top recruits from national teams. It may have a taken a few folks a little longer to find us, but they're here now, and together the group is building speed and excited for the season. Class Day is the BEST way to kick it all off. This may be the most competitive one ever."

In total, there are a whopping 54 new women on the Washington team. That group can be separated into two distinct groups: transfers and freshmen.

In the era of the "transfer portal," Husky women's rowing has definitely been a winner in terms of the net gain to the program each of the last few years, and the 2025 season is no different.

In all, there are 10 newcomers of the 2025 roster who transferred to the UW from another college (via the portal or otherwise), and those women bring a wealth of varied experience.

Six of the new transfers attended U.S. colleges. Sophomore Niahm Comerford (London, England) and fifth-year athlete Megan Lee (Natick, Mass.) both come to UW from Duke. Comerford spent her freshman year in the Blue Devils' top crew last year while Lee, who was a varsity eight stalwart (and two-time All-American) spent the 2024 season at Cambridge University, stroking the women's crew to a win in The Boat Race.

Sophie Houston (Sydney, Australia) earned her bachelor's degree at Yale and rowed in the Eli's varsity eight at NCAAs in 2024. She's also a World Rowing Under 23 gold medalist. Helen Latting (Atlanta, Ga.) is a fellow Ivy League grad, having earned her degree at Columbia.

Evan Park (Bend, Ore.) won gold in the U.S. eight at 2023 World Rowing Under 23s, in the same crew as new UW teammate Megan Lee. The Oregon State graduate and former walk-on rower spent the last two years in the Beavers' varsity eight, earning CRCA All-America and All-Pac-12 last spring.

Junior Sophie Suhinin (Adelaide, Australia) stroked Boston University's varsity eight to the Patriot League championship in 2024, earning an NCAA berth.

In addition to those six, there are four additional transfers who began their academic careers at overseas universities, mostly. The one exception is Canadian Marilou Duvernay-Tardiff (St. Jean-Baptiste, Quebec), who originally enrolled at UW back in 2020, but ended up closer to home at l'Université de Montréal before returning. She returns to Seattle with extensive international experience, including racing at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, and at the 2024 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta.

Fifth-year senior Sally Jones (Victoria, B.C.) is a graduate of the University of British Columia, where she was a four-time Academic All-Canadian honoree. She's also a two-time national champion in the U23 women's pair – and rowed in that event at 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

Madeleine Parker (Napier, New Zealand) spent one year at Waikato University before coming to Seattle. She earned a silver medal in the Kiwi four at 2023 World Rowing Under 23s. Emma Waters (Galway, Ireland) comes to UW after earning a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Galway. She has won three Irish national championships.

The forty-four freshmen who make up the UW women's team's Class of 2028 includes, as usual, a group of experienced rowers, as well as a long roster of walk-ons who are beginning their rowing careers here on Lake Washington.

"Each year we aim to recruit a blend of athletes with a contagious passion for rowing and a commitment to progress," said Allie Lohrenz, the novice coach. "The Class Day Regatta is always an exciting opportunity for the freshmen to showcase their growth and speed; so far this class has proven to be one of the deepest and most competitive groups of newcomers we've seen at Washington."

While time and space prohibit a truly thorough examination of each of those 44 individuals' résumés, here are some highlights:

Annelise Hahl (Cary, N.C.) has a long history of beach sprints rowing and was, in fact, the USRowing Beach Sprint Female Athlete of the Year in 2024. She won gold in both the solo and double at 2024 World Rowing Coastal Championships, among a lengthy list of accomplishments.

Violet Holbrow Brooksbank (Monmouth, Wales) was in the double alongside new UW teammate Niamh Comerford that won silver at 2024 World Rowing Under 19 Championships.

Emily Myers (Oxford, England) won the gold medal in the Great Britain eight at 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships in a crew that also included Comerford. Chloe Sheppard (Tewkesbury, England) represented Great Britain at that same regatta, winning the bronze in the quad.

Washington's group of new freshmen also includes a long list of athletes with club and high school rowing backgrounds, from all over the United States. Here are those Huskies, along with their rowing club affiliations:

Ella Bayer (Olympia, Wash.) – Olympia Area Rowing
Abby Carpenter (Weston, Conn.) – Greenwich Crew
Sofia Clark (Oakland, Calif.) – Oakland Strokes
Kayla Coates-Robertson (Redmond, Wash.) – Sammamish Rowing Association
Mina Cook (Seattle, Wash.) – Green Lake Crew
Keira Cox (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) – Newport Aquatic Center
Audrey Cronin (Roswell, Ga.) – St. Andrew Rowing Club
Emma Cronin (Roswell, Ga.) – St. Andrew Rowing Club
Claire Cunningham (Seattle, Wash.) – Seattle Prep School
Julia Dean (Burlington, Conn.) – Litchfield Hills Rowing Club
Bethan Evans (Bothell, Wash.) – Sammamish Rowing Association
Cate Fox (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) – Saratoga Rowing Association
Astrid Ivy (Bothell, Wash.) – Sammamish Rowing Association
Kylie Kunz (Seattle, Wash.) – Holy Names Academy
Maya Malik (Dallas, Texas) – Dallas United Crew
Marin Maycotte (Austin, Texas) – Texas Rowing Center
Cassidy McArthur (Lake Forest Park, Wash.) – Green Lake Crew
Isabel Michaelson (Mukilteo, Wash.) – Everett Rowing Association
Malia Odegaard (Bellevue, Wash.) – Pocock Rowing Center
Liv Ormseth (Vashon Island, Wash.) – Vashon Island Rowing Club
Samantha Rietbroek (Southlake, Texas) – Dallas United Crew
Ella Ryter (Seattle, Wash.) – Green Lake Crew
Katie Stevenson (Marin County, Calif.) – Marin Rowing Association (Calif.)
Katharina Stromberg (Seattle, Wash.) – Green Lake Crew (Wash.)
Alana Uehara (Kane'ohe, Hawai'i) – Ikaika Hawai'i Rowing (Hawai'i)
Savannah Van Scholten-Crawford (Eugene, Ore.) – Eugene Rowing Club (Ore.)
Maggie Ward (Madison, Wisc.) – Camp Randall Rowing Club (Wisc.)
Payton Wold (Arlington, Wash.) – Everett Rowing Association (Wash.)
Grace Worthington (Grand Haven, Mich.) – Grand Haven High School (Mich.)

While many of the above also participated in sports outside of rowing before and during high school, the following group of newcomers join the UW rowing team with little or no rowing experience. The Washington women's program has a long history of walk-on rowers who not only excel at the college level, but who go on to row at the highest level of international competition.

Here are those UW freshmen, with the sports in which they specialized in high school:

Riley Barringer (Pacific Grove, Calif.) – Swimming and water polo
Emma Calin (Federal Way, Wash.) – Swimming
Sophia DiBlasi (Maltby, Wash.) – Alpine skiing
Alyssa Dittoe (Edmonds, Wash.) – Volleyball
Kate Elward (Los Angeles, Calif.) – Cross country and track & field
Emelia Jordan (Rochester, N.Y.) – Nordic skiing
Caroline Law (Bellingham, Wash.) – Soccer (also, sister of UW men's rower Kiefer Law)
Faith Meyer (Beaverton, Ore.) – Basketball and volleyball
Elizabeth Peery (Ridgefield, Wash.) – Softball and volleyball
Sami Tyler (Camas, Wash.) – Volleyball (also, daughter of Kari Green, two-time NCAA champion rower at UW)
Bryce Woodcock (Woodinville, Wash.) – Basketball and tennis

Many of these women have already debuted for the UW, at the Husky Open earlier this month. But the official unveiling of the Class of 2028 (and those other new Washington women) comes this Saturday morning, at the Class Day Regatta, starting at 10:00 a.m. on Montlake Cut.