HAMILTON – The Colgate women's rowing team will kick off its 2023 fall campaign at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Mass. this Saturday afternoon. The first competition of Head Coach Jim Lister's Colgate career will begin at 1:43 p.m. when the 1v8 boat competes in the Charles as Bow #12 in the Women's Club Eight event. 

"Fall racing season is fast approaching," Lister said. "We have a full team to go and race at some big regattas this season including the Head of the Charles, Head of the Fish, and ending with the Autumn Classic in Ithaca."  

"The energy is high to continue to build on last year's performance and challenge ourselves to go faster as we look to move up in the Patriot League," Lister continued. "The investment in the process is ongoing as we continue to challenge ourselves on a daily basis."

Lister stays in Hamilton with over 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, most recently serving as the head men's and women's rowing coach at Hamilton College since 2019. With the Continentals, Lister was voted Division III Coach of the Year after a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2021. 

He will look to build on the success of last year with a Raiders squad that finished seventh overall in the 2022-23 Patriot League Championships. Last season, the 1v8 and v4 boats competed in the Grand Final on Lake Quinsigamond and both finished in sixth.

A total of 25 rowers return from last year's team, namely senior captain Ella Siegenthaler and two-time captain Audra FitzGerald. Six newly recruited first-years will join the group of returners as well as seven rowers and a coxswain who join the team via try-out. 

This year, Colgate will launch one 1v8 boat at the Head of the Charles Regatta consisting of Fitzgerald, Siegenthaler, Rebecca Carew, Marie Clausen, Genna Lamphier, Anna Kate Gwiazdowski, Ellie Myatt, Meredith Francis and coxswain Kat Metcalf. The group will look to improve on last year's 12th-place finish, the best time from a Colgate boat in the event since 2005.