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The 2025 Canadian University Rowing Championships (CUs) kick off this weekend in Montreal, Quebec. The University of Victoria’s women will be eager to defend their 2024 overall title, but they will face stiff competition from across the country – especially from UBC, who finished only nine points behind them last year. Tune in to watch some of Canada’s biggest collegiate stars battle it out for the banner!
In many events, CUs will be the first race between competitors from the West and the East, following their two major lead-up events. The Western schools previously faced off against each other at the Western Canadian University Rowing Championships (WCURCs), and schools from Ontario and Quebec raced each other last weekend at the Ontario University Athletics Championships (OUAs).
Heavyweight Singles
Reigning champion Gabrielle Yarema of the University of British Columbia (UBC) is back to defend her title and beat reigning silver medallist Pepper Howe of UVic at WCURCs in October. Both will face stiff competition from Morgan Rosts of the University of Western Ontario (Western), who just won the OUA title ahead of Tess Friar of Trent University. All of these athletes have represented Canada internationally recently. Yarema and Howe raced at the International University Championships, and Friar raced at the Junior Pan American Games. Morgan Rosts has two U23 World Rowing Championship titles, a senior World Rowing Championship bronze, two World Rowing Cup medals, and won The Town Challenge Cup title in 2024. She got the better of Yarema at Canadian Henley this summer – I predict her to take the win for Western (worth 15 points).
Heavyweight Pairs
Morgan Rosts will be back in action in the pair, with partner Kira Mels-Williams, who won bronze in this event last year. They took the OUA title, just ahead of Jacquie Groenewegen and Kaija Erickson of Queens University. Both athletes competed for Canada at the Junior Pan Am Games Qualification Regatta earlier this year – Groenewegen should be able to improve on her fifth-place result from the 2024 CUs. From the west coast, the winners at WCURCs were Gabriella Worobec and Madelyn Vandermeer of UBC. Worobec won bronze at the U23 World Rowing Championships this summer and at FISU in 2024, while Vandermeer raced to fifth place at the World University Games. University of Calgary placed second behind UBC – Julia Hill and Grace Turner placed seventh in the pair at last year’s CUs, and should see a substantial step up in ranking this year. I predict another win for Western (worth 20 points) in the small boats, even with only 90 minutes between the pair and single for Rosts.
Heavyweight Eights
The eight is the premier event of the championships – a win is worth 40 points, and even a sixth-place finish is worth as much as a win in the pair. Crews have been fine-tuning their performance in this boat all season to prepare for the final showdown. Front-runners have to be UBC, who won WCURCs four seconds ahead of UVic, expanding on the 1.4-second margin that separated them in gold and silver last year. UBC have five returners and UVic have six. Bronze in the previous year went to Queen’s after winning the OUA title; they have six returning athletes and have just repeated as OUA champions, which bodes well for another podium finish at CUs. They are stroked by Abby Speirs, 2023 Pan Am Games champion in the women’s eight. Brock University is likely the other significant threat – after not fielding an eight last year, they were only six seconds off Queen’s at OUAs. UVic, Queens, and Brock each include five national team alumni, and UBC contains four. uOttawa and Calgary will also be looking for A-final finishes, while historically strong Western may struggle to reach the top six after placing sixth at the OUAs.
Lightweight Singles
Rosie O’Brien of Carleton University made history last weekend, winning the first-ever OUA women’s gold medal for her school in this event. She also won the Head of the Trent title earlier in the season, and should have an excellent shot at a CUs medal after a fourth-place finish last year. Rebecca Cocchetto of uOttawa finished two seconds back at OUAs and could be a top contender as well, stepping up from an eighth-place finish last year. Isabel Izquierdo-Bernier of Club d’aviron de l’Université de Montréal did not race OUAs but placed second at the Head of the Trent, so she could also be a contender. From the west coast, Elena Masyte of UVic won the WCURCs event, putting her in good standing for CUs – this is her first year in the single after winning two medals in the crew boats at last year’s event. Morgan Harris-Stoertz of UBC placed second at WCURCs.
Prediction: Rosie O’Brien to capture another gold medal (worth 15 points).
Lightweight Doubles
Julia Teixeira and Gillian Jansen of Queens took the OUA title and a massive lead at Head of the Trent, and likely enter as the frontrunners. Jansen placed fourth at CUs last year in this event, while Teixeira won silver in the lightweight single; together, they won a silver in the coxed four. However, UVic’s crew of Kate Watson and Sai Sai Faubert will be stiff competition. Watson won silver in the double last year, Faubert won the lightweight single (and the University Athlete of the Year honour), and together they won the coxed four title. Other crews competing for medals will include the WCURCs silver medallists, UBC (Morgan Harris-Stoertz and Willa Pepin, defending CUs bronze medallist in this event), and OUA silver medallists, Western (Kairsen Frick and Mary Brooksbank, defending CUs bronze medallist in the light single). My prediction is Queens for the win (earning 20 points towards the banner).
Lightweight Fours
Worth 25 points, this event has a significant impact on which team wins the banner. It is also the only event that has seen a match-up between the East and West already this season, at the Head of the Charles. Queens placed second (only 0.18 seconds behind the winning Princeton crew!), and last year, three of this crew won silver at CUs. Isabel Geiger, Isidora Ferguson, Nicole Schmidt, Teixeira, and Jansen are fresh off a dominant ten-second win at OUAs and will have their eye on gold at CUs. UBC will be eager to beat Queens after the result from Charles, where they finished only 4.3 seconds behind for third overall, and from last year’s CUs, where three of this crew won bronze. Alex Duggan, Bronwyn Posynick, Isabelle Chung, Pepin, and Harris-Stoertz won WCURCs by ten seconds and are the class of the west coast – it will be an incredible battle for gold in Montreal! Western finished second at the OUAs and should be in a good tussle with UVic for podium placement and the all-important points.
Prediction: Queens just edging out UBC for the gold.
