Blue Devils Open Fall Season With Top-Five Finish

Saturday, October 18

Boston, Mass.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Head of the Charles

Blue Devils Open Fall Season With Top-Five Finish

10/18/2014 8:15:00 PM | Rowing

By: Duke Sports Information

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Duke rowing team's Club 8 posted a top-five finish in the women's club eights to start the 2014-15 campaign on a strong note Saturday at The 50th Head of the Charles Regatta.

"This was an exciting race for us today," head coach Robyn Horner said. "The boat handled the excitement of the Charles well. We've approached the fall very patiently so we've done a lot of low stroke rate work. We raced today at SR 30 and I thought we had a lot of poise and control."

The Blue Devils' crew of coxswain Karla Beltran, stroke seat Rachel Wolsfelt, Katie Dukovich, Emma Durham, Jess Findlay, Katherine Maitland, Lauren Miranda, Tara Christensen and Hannah Hewitt placed fifth in the 34-boat field, covering the 4,800m course in 16:58.35.

"The course at the Charles is very challenging with the bridges and level of competition," Beltran said. "The crew today was very responsive and maintained focus. That allowed me to guage the competition and find the best course."

Brown's club eight won the event with a time of 16:09.90 while Duke edged Northeastern's crew by six tenths of a second to take fifth.

"The race was great," Findlay said. "The rhythm was really solid. Pasisng Dartmouth toward the end of the course was really exciting. It was a thrill to be in the race."

The Blue Devils will sport a varsity four team in Sunday's competition, with the team set to race in the 17-boat field approximately 1:50 p.m. ET. Results are available at regattacentral.com.

Since its inception in 1965, The Head of the Charles Regatta has attracted more than 100,000 rowers to the banks of the Charles River.

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