Courtesy of Rena Hedeman

Following an impressive spring season, the No. 5 Yale women’s crew team embarked on a remarkable journey around the world this summer, collecting a slew of victories and medals. 

At the culmination of their regular season in April, the Bulldogs clocked in five victories, effectively sweeping Radcliffe and Northeastern on the Housatonic. The varsity eight defeated Radcliffe with a 15-second victory and captured the Case Cup for the ninth straight season. This impressive success followed the squad to the postseason and throughout the summer, where it earned various titles and medals. 

“Rowing at these high level championships gives an extra dimension to the sport, which makes coming back to New Haven to compete for Yale even more exciting,” Margaret Hedeman ’23, a former sports editor for the News, wrote. “It is also a great opportunity to gain a new perspective through different coaching and meeting people from opposing NCAA teams.”

During the Ivy League Championship, the women’s crew delivered impressive results, with the second varsity eight claiming the grand final and the Bulldogs tying with Princeton and Brown for overall team points. Ultimately, the title went to Princeton whose first varsity won gold. 

Nevertheless, the event was a success for the Bulldogs who won four of the six grand finals, consisting of three eights and three fours. The varsity eight and the varsity four also medalded, each coming in third. 

After this success, the first and second varsity eight and the varsity four headed to Sarasota, Florida for the 2022 NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship. At the time, the CRCA national poll ranked the crew as No. 4, the varsity eight posted a 19–1 record during the season and both the second varsity eight and the varsity four culminated the season undefeated. 

“I am so proud of this team. They fought for everything here,” head coach Will Porter said to Yale Athletics at the championship. “There is no question we are not 100 percent as a team, but they just stepped up and raced their tails off. We had to make many last-minute adjustments to our lineups, but they stepped up as a team.”

Despite strong racing, the varsity eight and varsity four narrowly missed a spot in the grand final after both crews placed fourth in their respective events. The second varsity eight advanced to the final event, and ultimately won gold after beating second-place Stanford by two seconds. The last time the second varsity eight boat advanced to the grand finals was in 2018. The overall team placed fifth as a team with 102 points. The 2V8’s victory is the second NCAA title for the Yale crew and the fifth for the Bulldogs. 

A month later at the Henley Royal Regatta, the Bulldogs submitted two entries to race on the Thames — a coxed eight in The Island Challenge Cup and a coxless pair, Lucy Edmunds ’23 and Katie King-Smith ’22, in The Hambleden Challenge Cup. Throughout the weekend, the eight won three races in the bracket-style regatta to advance to finals where they fell to Brown. After an impressive race, the pair was defeated during the first round by the California Rowing Club, who ultimately captured the cup. 

“We had a good run through the regatta coming in as a low seed and fighting our way to the final,” Porter said. “I look forward to getting the team together in the fall in New Haven.”

After completing a successful season for Yale, 12 Bulldogs represented numerous countries at the U23 and U19 World Championships in Varese, Italy. 

“I was in the eight with two other Yale teammates which was exciting and hopefully gives an indication of the caliber of our squad,” Hedeman said. “We also had several other Yalies representing various countries who performed very well such as Christina [Bourmpou] — 2020 Olympian — who also won her event.”

At the U23 world championships, the United States eight sat three Bulldogs: Hedeman, Sophia Hahn ’24 and Maddie Moore ’25. Hedeman won a U19 World Championship in 2018 and Hahn received a gold medal in the U.S. U23 eight last summer. This summer, the three Yalies helped the United States eight win the finals, awarding each of them a gold medal. 

Great Britain’s coxless four included  Lauren Carey ’24 and Phoebe Campbell ’22 who captured a silver medal, and Denmark’s coxless four included Marie Ramm ’25. 

“I think my U23 experience this summer was a great compliment to my first year rowing at Yale in both its intensity and excitement,” Moore wrote. “It was super fun to see my Yale teammates all around the course, and become teammates with people from other NCAA programs. The excitement and competitiveness of racing has made me eager to continue racing for Yale.” 

Christina Bourmpou ’25, who won at the U23 championships last summer and raced at the Tokyo Olympics, represented Greece in a pair and captured gold while simultaneously posting a World Championship record-breaking time. 

At the U19 championships, three first years raced for different countries. Imogen Cabot ’26 represented the United States in the coxless four, Zoe Beeson ’26  raced for Great Britain in the pair and Lexi von der Schulenburg ’26 represented Switzerland in the pair.