Freshmen Pari Baker, Kirsten Girard, Badia Shehab, and Hannah Malzahn will join junior Jesselyn Voysey and senior McDarragh Minnock in making the trip to Boston. Malzahn will be the team’s coxswain for the event.
The team has been training for four weeks and in that time the newcomers have really impressed. In addition to the four freshmen who are new to the team, Voysey is a transfer student from Orange Coast College in California.
“This group of six has done a great job exemplifying the things that we were looking for from the team; technical elements, strength elements and the approach to what we are doing. We are still very early in our training, but the group that is going has shown some very good signs of long term potential,” Head Coach Lisa Glenn said.
Despite being a freshman, Malzahn has a lot of experience at the event having captained boats in the regatta each of the last four years.
“It’s my favorite race. I’ve medaled three times, finishing second, third, and fourth,” Malzahn said. “It’s the most adrenaline I have ever had at a race. The Charles is so busy; it’s a coxen’s course because it is so curvy and narrow. There are so many people who are prone to run into each other or into the bridges. There is three miles of course and there are people on every inch of the three miles.”
“It’s special, this is the one time that rowers can actually feel what it might be like to be a football player in the south,” Coach Glenn said. “It’s the largest rowing event in the world. You land in Boston and people know why you’re there. It’s a special experience for rowers to have; you really get to soak up the support for your sport.”
“I have heard a lot of great things, but I have never been to the Head of the Charles,” Baker said. “Obviously I want to do well, but I think I just am going to go into it with the attitude that I just want to have fun.”
Tennessee is one of 19 entrants competing in the women’s championship division. Tennessee last competed in the 4+ race at the Head of the Charles in 2007, when the team notched a 14th place finish. The Vols last went to Boston in 2012, when they competed in the Championship 8+ and the Club 8+ races.
The Head of the Charles is a three mile head race upstream from Boston University Boathouse to Christian Herter Park. Each race has a rolling start and the team with the fastest time wins.
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