Husky Men Beat Australia To Win Windermere Cup

SEATTLE – The Washington men’s rowing team regained the Windermere Cup with a victory over Australia Saturday in the 37th annual event on Montlake Cut.
 
In total, the Husky men won all four of their races during the Opening Day Regatta, including the marquee race against a crew of experienced international oarsmen from Australia. The Huskies earned the Cup for the 27th time, one year after a crew from the Netherlands broke a five-year win streak for the Huskies.
 
In the final race, the Husky crew, coxed and stroked by Aussies Nick Dunlop and Darcy McCluskey, respectively, executed a strong start to take the lead right from the start. The Aussies remained in contact throughout nearly the entire 2,000 meters, but at the end, finished with about a length of open water separating the two shells.
 
Washington’s time was 5:39.882, while Australia finished in 5:48.115.
 
“I thought it went really well,” said UW head coach Michael Callahan. “We’ve been working on certain sections of our race and we executed that really well today. I was really pleased to see guys race at that level. We have Pac-12s next week, of course, so we needed to use this competition to raise our level. I think we did that.”
 
Earlier, the Huskies won the Erickson Cascade Cup for second varsity crews, with two UW entries vying alongside La Salle and Western Washington. The Huskies’ “Gold” crew maintained a narrow advantage over the Purple eight and won by a margin of about 2.6 seconds, 5:47.022 to 5:49.361. The 21st-ranked La Salle eight, which made the cross-country trip from Philadelphia, finished in third.
 
Washington also won two other events, with a Washington Gold crew beating a Washington Purple shell in the third varsity eight/freshman eight race, ahead of crews from WWU and Seattle University; and a UW Purple beating a UW Gold squad, as well as a four from Washington State, in the Open Four event.
 
“It’s a championship atmosphere,” Callahan commented, referring to the thousands of fans that lined the race course. “You get the atmosphere and the excitement and you can see how you’re going to perform under pressure. We want to raise ourselves through challenges and that’s what Australia gave us.”
 
The Huskies begin the postseason next Sunday when the men and women will travel to Dexter Lake in Oregon for the 2023 Pac-12 Championships.
 
AUSTRALIA MEN’S LINEUP
 
Cox: Lucy Burnell (Melbourne University Boat Club)
Stroke: Rohan Lavery (Melbourne University Boat Club)
7: Miller Rowe (KAND Rowing Club)
6: Alex Nichol (Sydney Rowing Club)
5: Hamish Wynn-Pope (Melbourne University Boat Club)
4: George Finlayson (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club)
3: Alex Wolf (Sydney Rowing Club)
2: Charlie Batrouney (Melbourne University Boat Club)
Bow: Marcus Britt (Sydney University Boat Club)
 
WASHINGTON MEN’S LINEUPS
 
Varsity Eight – Windermere Cup
Cox: Nick Dunlop (Sydney, Australia)
Stroke: Darcy McCluskey (Brisbane, Australia)
7: Povilas Juskevicius (Kaunus, Lithuania)
6: Logan Ullrich (Auckland, New Zealand)
5: Jack Walkey (Victoria, B.C., Canada)
4: Joel Cullen (Chilliwack, B.C./Sardis/UBC)
3: Robert Pluijmert (Dieren, The Netherlands)
2: Cameron Tasker (Norwich, England, U.K.)
Bow: Max Heid (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Prep)
 
Second Varsity Eight Purple – Erickson Cascade Cup
Cox: Kieran Joyce (Hamilton, New Zealand)
Stroke: Max Mason (Redmond, Wash./Redmond)
7: Blake Vogel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic)
6: Gus Altucher (Portland, Ore./Cleveland)
5: Luke Henry (Bellevue, Wash./Singapore American) 
4: Pablo Matan (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep)
3: Ethan Blight (Auckland, New Zealand)
2: Marius Ahlsand (Oslo, Norway)
Bow: Giulio Acernese (Rome, Italy)
 
Second Varsity Eight Gold – Erickson Cascade Cup
Cox: Zach Casler (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Stroke: Michael Thiers (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt)
7: Harry Fitzpatrick (Auckland, New Zealand)
6: Ben Shortt (Auckland, New Zealand)
5: Adam Krol (Toronto, Ont., Canada)
4: Archie Drummond (Twickenham, London, U.K.)
3: Jonathan Wang-Norderud (Oslo, Norway)
2: Nils Vorberg (Hamburg, Germany)
Bow: Blake Bradshaw (Auckland, New Zealand)
 
Freshman/Third Varsity Eight Gold
Cox: Tess Kadian (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield)
Stroke: Max Taylor (Brisbane, Australia)
7: Nick Smyth (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills)
6: Ryan Martin (Newport Beach, Calif./Pacifica Christian)
5: Luke Collins (Poulsbo, Wash./Bainbridge)
4: Marc Tennesen (Seattle, Wash./Lincoln)
3: Lyle Donovan (Milton, Ga./Cambridge)
2: Ryan Smith (Hannover, Germany)
Bow: Finn Griskauskas (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette)
 
Freshman/Third Varsity Eight Purple
Cox: Lilly Kurtz (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names Academy)
Stroke. Tommy Igo (Alameda, Calif./Alameda)
7: Jay Olson (Longmont, Colo./Mead/Colorado)
6: Sam Husarik (Puyallup, Wash./Emerald Ridge)
5: Oliver Black (Sacramento, Calif./Jesuit)
4: Addison Smee (Kalama, Wash./Kalama)
3: Connor Shoup (Steilacoom, Wash./Steilacoom)
2: Kiefer Law (Bellingham, Wash./Sehome)
Bow: Ewan Morrow (Seattle, Wash./Garfield)
 
Varsity Four Purple
Stroke: Louis Gallia IV (Sacramento, Calif./Jesuit)
3: Parker Raines (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline)
2: Caleb Cowles (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Bow: Quinn Hall (Chester Springs, Pa./Malvern Prep)
Cox: Casey Neumann (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Palisades)
 
Varsity Four Gold
Stroke: Abe Eligator (Larchmont, N.Y./Mamaroneck)
3: Ethan Walsh (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic)
2: Gus Ashcraft (Seattle, Wash./O’Dea)
Bow: Alex Gonin (Victoria, B.C., Canada/Oak Bay Secondary)
Cox: Athena Baches (Bellevue, Wash./Newport)