New South Wales Rowing Championships 2025 – Women’s U21 Eight Preview

Photo Credit: Rowing NSW

There’s no event quite like the U21 eights, where some of the best school crews in the country go up against the best young club rowers. It’s an amazing mix that should see some of the best racing of the New South Wales Championships.

Caulfield Grammar

The girls from Melbourne have already clocked up the miles in 2025, with a camp in Tasmania before heading up to Penrith for the NSW Championships. Their first eight of Rebecca Keon-Cohen, Annabelle Manley, Camille Carlisle, Lilly Abbott, Chloe Moffat, Mathilde Chesneau, Charlotte Neal, Grace Maskiell and Emily Eldridge have consistently finished mid-B finals in the first eight events at the 1500m Barwon regattas, along with 11^th at the 2024 Melbourne Head Race.

Their second crew of Imogen Dart, Harriet Koenen, Emily Jellis, Ava Maskiell, Charlotte Embelton, Lucy Edwards, Sofia Fromberg, Olivia Chadwick and Annabel Naphtali are even younger again, finishing third in the Year 10 eights at last weekend’s Morongo Regatta. This will be an exciting experience for them and a chance to build on a solid season so far.

Firbank Grammar

The yellow and black zooties of Firbank Grammar are also heading north from Melbourne. Sophie Nicholls, Zoe Page, Sienna Thomas, Olivia McLean, Ella Bailey, Amelie Grace, Piper Hallam, Poppy Dalton-Morris and Caitlin Barwood finished second at the Sacred Heart Regatta and fourth at the Melbourne Head race at the end of 2024. There’s plenty of big race experience in the boat, with Bailey, Grace and Dalton-Morris all winning bronze in the coxed four at last year’s Australian Rowing Championships, and Dalton-Morris representing the Australian U19 team in the same boat class.

Geelong College

Eva Chalmers, Millie Agar, Emme Smith, Eliza Clancy, Ruby-Jane Roberts, Stella Benson, Hannah Dunton, Mackenzie Pugh and Audrey Jansz represent the green of Geelong College in this event. They’ve made the A-finals at this season’s Sacred Heart and Barwon Regattas, and finished eighth at the 2024 Melbourne Head Race. They’ll look to improve on sixth place in their heat in last year’s event.

Geelong Grammar

If a recent Instagram post is anything to go by, there’s nothing wrong with the balance in a Geelong Grammar eight. They’ll need that balance if either crew is to sneak through to the final, with the first eight winning the B-final and the second eight the A-final of their events at the recent Barwon Regatta. Sacha Laidlaw, Lily James, Chloe Fitzgerald, Manon Pirenc, Miranda Worswick, Audrey Semjaniv, Madison Sonego, Zoe Reed and Lucia Church will be looking to better the time from Paige a’Beckett, Izzi O’Connor, Rose Jones, Lulu Polglase, Annabel Osmond, Sienna Baillieu, Alice Bowler, Eda Philip and Jemima Hines.

Lauriston Girls’

Another crew making the trek up the Hume Highway to Sydney are Lauriston Girls’ Katie Van Rooyen, Claudia Graham, Chloe McNamara, Brigette Dixon, Mim Bosci, Charlie Ward, Chloe Finster, Grace Oborn and Morgan Herbert. While they haven’t made an A final on the Barwon yet this season, a ninth at the Melbourne Head race suggests the extra 500m at Penrith should suit them better than a 1500m sprint on the Barwon.

Loreto Toorak

In the last few weeks the big blue boats of Loreto Toorak will head from Melbourne to Lake Barrington, back to Melbourne and now up to Sydney for the NSW Championships. There’s been some changes over the last few regattas, but Madeleine Bare, Luciana Di Scala, Zara Bare, Tess Ellard, Yve Sadler, Grace Kennedy, Olivia Fay, Isla Quick and Sara Chapman will be looking to keep the younger crew of Alexia Kritikides, Olivia Burchard, Kuhu Sen, Mietta Barrington, Grace Walter, Allegra Caprioglio, Grace Eagleson Forster, Amy Jordan and Olive Buffinton at bay.

Loreto Kirribilli

One of the few local schools in this event, the blue, white and golds will be looking to beat last year’s seventh place finish in their heat. That’s the challenge for Georgia Moran, Millie Fallon, Sarah Holt, Elizabeth Roberts, Chloe Allsopp, Eva Eales, Avery Brambell, Grace Woodward and Lulu Warren, who will compete as a crew at this regatta for the first time.

Melbourne University

It’s never easy to get past a Melbourne University crew, and that’s not likely to change in 2025. The crew of Izabella Morrison, Lola Dahan, Amy Crough, Scarlett Shelton, Lulu Burney, Francesca Dever, Chloe Nevins, Meg Dumbrell and Ivy Jones will look to better last year’s fifth-place finish. Nevins and Dumbrell return from that crew, while Dever and Burney represented Australia in the U19 coxed fours at last year’s Junior World Championships.

Mercantile

Want to win? You’ve got to get past Mercs – the challenge for all crews heading into the regatta. Cate McNeil, Lucy Gillon, Lucinda Johnstone, Mia Harrison, Mackenzie Kopke-Veldhuis, Ella Gerrand, Zoe Korr, Clodagh McCarthy and Esther Ardern will want to make the step up to the podium after a narrow fourth last year. Johnstone was the fourth Victorian rower in the Australian U19 coxed four last year and will want to beat her international crewmates in the Melbourne University crew.

St Catherine’s

The Sydney St Catherine’s have stayed close to home so far in 2025, with a camp on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. They’ve had a decent season to date, with Melanie Poulos, Lucy Hall, Sarah Rupnik Williams, Evelien Stigter, Alice Steed, Isabelle Yardley, Chelsea Baker, Florence Hennessy and Georgia Parkes winning gold at the Loreto Kirribilli and bronze at the NSW All Schools regattas this season. The second eight, crewed this regatta by Eden MacGregor, Laura Seton, Emily Plowman, Tilda Dunn, Genevieve Links, Darcy Connell, Eva Hunstead, Aida Lloyd and Zinnia Shew, won their own gold at the Loreto Kirribilli Regatta as well.

Sydney Composite

The only composite crew in this event also has the most national team members. Lucy Yabsley (Glebe), Scarlett Kay (Sydney), Lyla Fievez, Greta Spencer (Swan River), Nicole Vance, Georgia Allen, Georgia Montague, Lara Vahle and Nina Chamarette will be out for gold with Yabsley, Fievez and Spencer all racing for the Australian U19 team last year and Montague, Fievez and Spencer in 2023. Interestingly none of the nine are from Sydney, with Vance rowing for New Zealand at the U19 World Championships in 2023, and Montague part of Queensland’s winning youth eights crew in 2024.

Sydney University

Sydney University are always among the favourites at a NSW regatta, and that’s no different this time. Georgina Stevenson, Penni-Rose Collins, Isabella Kennedy, Madeleine Wark, Alexandra O’Brien, Alice Macready, Mia Booth, Addison Roles and Chloe Jureta represent at this year’s NSW Championships, with seven of them winning this event at the Reindeer Regatta by a whopping 33 seconds. Nearly all those rowers will be looking to make the New South Wales women’s youth eights as well, giving them extra motivation.

University of Queensland

The University of Queensland crew will also be looking to represent their state later this year. Lily Bragg, Sophie Crane, Astrid Coates, Felicity Bishop, Astrid Thomas, Nell Murphy, Scarlett Woodbury, Sarah Bourke and Harriette O’Dwyer didn’t get the chance to row as a crew at the recent Queensland State Championships, although Crane, Bishop and Thomas won silver in the U19 eights. Thomas was also part of the Queensland’s winning Bicentennial Cup crew last year.

UTS

It might be their first year at UTS, but this crew know how to row together. The stroke four of Charli Griebel, Audrey Stigter, Siennah Morgan, Zoe Fallon, Bianca Rupnik Williams, Madeleine Manins, Madeleine Swain, Leila Gaston and Sophie Castellas won gold in the Schoolgirl and U19 eights at last year’s Australian Rowing Championships, and will be looking to build on that success with their new crew. Expect to see the black, white and teal challenging towards the front of this final.

Wesley College

Another Melbourne school making the trip north, Wesley College’s distinctive purple and yellow zooties have had decent results this season. Zara Millard, Olivia Nicholson, Scarlett Rosshandler, Neve Horsley, Zara Hirsh, Zali Wheatley, Therese Mathieson, Zara Schmidt and Zoe da Costa-Alves finished seventh at the 2024 Melbourne Head race, but didn’t quite get the result they were after at the recent Barwon Regatta after finishing third in their heat.

Prediction

The U21 is a generally tough event for the school crews, and with no standouts amongst them that should hold true here. That leaves the club crews most likely to be at the pointy end of the final – we’re tipping Sydney University to finish over the Sydney Composite and UTS.

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