The University of Louisville women’s rowing team won gold medals in all four of its A Final races at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship, held on April 19 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
This achievement highlights the program’s continued progress and competitive strength. Winning across multiple events demonstrates depth and consistency within the team as it prepares for upcoming competitions.
Assistant coach Natalie Chourova said, “One of our goals was to win gold in more events at this regatta. The program achieved this goal by repeating its success from last year with gold in Novice 4, Second 8, First 8 and adding a win in the Varsity 4 this year. Big success for the program was also earning bronze in the Third 8, which competed in the 2V8 event. We did not have a Third Varsity 8 at this regatta last year, and bringing home bronze this year in the 2V8 event tells a lot about the development of our program.”
Team captain Clara Jane Van Dyk said, “This weekend was a strong representation of who we are as a team. Every boat went out there and showed up for each other. As a whole, we accomplished many things and showed that we are capable of much more. We are excited to get back to the boathouse and train for the upcoming weeks.” The Novice 4 boat started off Sunday with a dominant victory by nearly thirty seconds over their nearest competitor.
In addition to sweeping first place finishes with their Varsity Eight (6:35.265), Second Varsity Eight (6:40.330), Varsity Four A (7:28.873), and Novice Four boats (7:42.151), Louisville also earned bronze with its Third Varsity Eight entry competing against second varsity crews—a sign noted by coaches as evidence of growing depth within their squad.
Reflecting on her crew’s performance after placing third, Julia Shoemaker said, “We knew it was going to be a fight Sunday morning… Our boat had a strong race, and knowing it would be our two seniors Kate (Eisenbeis) and Graycen (West)’s last race in Oak Ridge, we put it all out there on the course for them.” Coach Chourova added that while results were promising she expects further improvement ahead of major meets: “The team showed some decent racing this weekend… But we will need to continue finding more speed as we prepare for our biggest race before ACC Championships: the Lake Wheeler Invite.”
Louisville’s next competition is scheduled for Friday, April 24 at Lake Wheeler Invitational.
