The Western Canadian University Rowing Championships (WCURCs) are the first glimpse of crews from top universities, including the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria, as the collegiate racing season begins. In 2024, UVic’s women won the overall title at this event and went on to win the championship banner at the Canadian University Rowing Championships (CUs). UBC’s men have won the last two WCURC titles and the last four championship banners at CUs.
The 2025 WCURCs results predict another stellar year for the UBC men and perhaps a return to the top spot for the UBC women. UBC won the same four events for each class (heavyweight eight, pair, and single, as well as the lightweight four). UVic won both lightweight singles and doubles, but the larger boats are worth more points towards the championship banner.
Smaller rowing programmes, including the University of the Fraser Valley and Simon Fraser University (SFU), as well as the University of Calgary (UofC), also competed, with SFU claiming one varsity medal and UofC claiming four.
Pairs
UBC started the finals off strong, sweeping the podium in the men’s pair. It’s no surprise to see Liam Smit in the winning crew – he has represented South Africa and Canada internationally, even making the senior World Rowing Championships team in 2023. He was the 2022 and 2023 national champion in the single, and won the Canadian University Rowing Championships (CUs) title in the single in 2022 and 2024. Partner Adrian Breen has made three age-group national teams for Canada and is a two-time CUs champion in the eight. This pairing has likely won the selection battle for CUs, but UBC has two other strong pairs right behind – Oliver Page-Kuhr and Robert Walsh in silver and Matthias Shorter and Benjamin Buchheit in bronze.
In the women’s pair, it was another decorated pair of athletes from UBC that took the win. Gabriella Worobec has stroked two Canadian women’s eights to bronze in the past two years – at FISU in 2024 and at U23 World Rowing Championships this summer. She won CUs gold last year in the eight (with Madelyn Vandermeer), and in 2023, she won the pair title. Vandermeer raced to fifth place at the World University Games this summer as part of the Canadian women’s four. In second place was the University of Calgary, tying their best-ever result. Julia Hill and Grace Turner placed seventh in the pair and fifth in the eight at last year’s CUs. They are the reigning silver medallists in the U23 pair from the 2024 Nationals. Rounding out the podium were Julia Reed and Gabrielle Kieser from UVIc, both 2023 CUs champions in the eight (Kieser was also part of the FISU bronze medal eight in 2024).
Heavyweight Singles
Owen Bartel of UBC won the men’s single – he was the CUs champion in this event in 2023 as well as a two-time CUs champion in the eight. He placed fourth in the eight at the 2024 U23 World Championships. Silver went to Simon Whittaker from UVic, in a photo finish with Braden Durcak of UBC. Whittaker is a second-year student and raced in the reserve eight for Brown Cup last year; he has made a significant step up to the varsity team this year. Durcak was part of the winning eight last year.
The women’s single was won by Gabrielle Yarema of UBC, the defending CUs champion in this event as well as the eight. She is also an international medallist in the eight, having won bronze at the FISU in 2024. Pepper Howe of UVic is the defending CUs silver medalist in the single and eight and repeated that result here. She made her international debut at the World University Games this summer, winning the B-final in the women’s double. Rachel Warrington claimed Simon Fraser University’s only varsity medal of the regatta, winning bronze.
Eights
The UBC men’s eight continued their winning streak – they have won every CUs title since 2017! Their boat has six returners from last year (Smit, Breen, Walsh, Durcak, Bartel, and coxswain Oscar Wostenhome). Buchheit made the varsity eight for Brown Cup in 2024 and makes his return to the boat. Shorter was in the reserve eight for the 2025 Brown Cup. Oliver Page-Kuhr is an All-American from Brown University, and stroked the Canadian team to second place in the championship eight at Canadian Henley this summer.
UVic’s men had an excellent showing, finishing just 1.3 seconds behind – they placed fourth at CUs in 2024, 8 seconds behind UBC. This is their closest result in several years and will be encouraging for this new crew. Only Gabe Dyer, Conor Dillon, and coxswain Sascha Jansen-Ruden are returning from last year’s CUs boat, and Dominik Crnjak made the varsity eight for Brown Cup in April. A rising star in this crew is Daniel Mielecki, who broke the 12-year-old 2k record with 5:55.4 and raced at U23s this summer. Whittaker and Thomas Boruta step up from the reserve eight at Brown Cup. Calum Murphy and Drew Timlin are first-year students making an impact. Third place went to the reserve eight from UBC.
In the women’s eight, the margin was a little bigger, with UBC winning by four seconds. Worobec, Yarema, Vandermeer, Kiana Bonamin, and Claire Hallett are returning as defending CUs champions. Isabella Howley and Natasha Witts step up from the reserve crew at Brown Cup in April 2025. Howley coxed the B Rowing Canada crew at Canadian Henley this summer to second place. Emelie Lustig and Sophia den Breejen are new to the varsity squad – a year ago, they placed fourth together in the junior varsity pair at WCURCs.
UVic women returned six crew members from last year’s silver medal crew – Kieser, Howe, Kaliya Javra, Danica Ariano, Sarah Stormont, and coxswain Sofie Hof. Ariano is yet another member of the FISU bronze medallist eight from 2024 and stroked the CUs eight to gold in 2023. The two other members also have national team experience: Sai Sai Faubert raced in the lightweight quad at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships, and Sophia Regosa finished fifth in the pair at the 2022 U19 World Rowing Championships. Violet Scholz steps up to the varsity team for the first time.
Third in the women’s eight went to the University of Calgary, only 12 seconds behind UBC, compared to 24 seconds from last year at CUs, where they placed fifth. Only Hill, Turner, and Ellena Riegle return as rowers, and Leia Guillame steps into the coxie seat instead of bow seat.
Lightweight Singles
Elena Masyte of UVic claimed the first varsity win for her school. This is her first year in the single after winning the CUs title in the four and silver in the double last year. Earlier in the season, she made the Brown Cup reserve eight as a lightweight. Morgan Harris-Stoertz of UBC placed second, matching her result from Canadian Henley this year in the U23 lightweight single. Anna Cain of UVic rounded out the podium.
Giancarlo DiPompeo of UVic won the men’s lightweight singles title, another medal in an extremely full trophy case. He was named the 2024 U23 Male Athlete of the Year after winning a silver at FISU and placing fourth at U23 World Rowing Championships, along with winning the national U23 title and a silver medal overall in the open men’s single. Last year, he won three medals at CUs and is the reigning Canadian Henley U23 open men’s single champion. Jack Harris of UBC claimed the silver at only 18 years old. He raced the single at the U19 World Rowing Championships this year, placing 18th, and last year placed third in the Youth Single at Head of the Charles. William Thornton of UVic won bronze; he won the U19 doubles event at the BC Provincials this year.
Lightweight Doubles
Gold in the women’s lightweight doubles went to Sai Sai Faubert and partner Kate Watson. They are no strangers to winning – they are the defending CUs champions in the four, and Faubert was named the CURC Female Athlete of the Year in 2024 for also winning the lightweight single title. Willa Pepin and Harris-Stoertz of UBC claimed silver – Pepin is the defending CUs bronze medallist in this event. Third place at WCURC went to Zoe Scogna and Sasha Fraser of UVic.
Uvic also won gold in the men’s lightweight double, with DiPompeo teaming up with Oliver Howard-Batek. Howard-Batek won bronze in the lightweight four at CUs last year and placed fourth in 2023. DiPompeo is the defending CUs bronze medallist in this event. Henry Sowle and Peter Scaccabarozzi of UBC earned the silver medal in the double, after a successful summer winning the U23 lightweight men’s pair at Canadian Henley. Third place went to Micgill Parcher and Thornton of UVic.
Lightweight Fours
The script from the small boats was flipped in the lightweight fours for both men and women. For the women, gold went to UBC’s crew of Harris-Stoertz, Pepin, Abigail Nicholson, Bronwyn Posynick, and coxswain Isabelle Chung. Harris-Stoertz and Pepin are the defending CUs bronze medallists in this event, joined by first-year Nicholson. Posynick and Chung have made appearances in the varsity and junior varsity squads in the past and have moved up to the top lightweight boat.
Silver went to the defending CUs champions from UVic – Watson, Cain, Scogna, and Masyte with coxswain Sadie Green. Masyte also won a silver medal at CUs in this event in 2023. Cain and Scogna are new to the crew and fresh off a second place in the U23 four at Canadian Henley – they are replacing Regosa and Faubert, who are now racing in the heavyweight eight. Bronze went to the University of Calgary.
The UBC men’s crew of Sowle, Scaccabarozzi, Harris, Simon DeLuca, and coxswain Edward Lalonde took the title. Scaccabarozzi and Lalonde are the core of the crew, having won a CUs silver medal in 2022 and placed fourth the previous year. With the addition of the talented Harris and DeLuca, who made the finals at CSSRA in both the heavyweight pair and eight, this crew has a strong chance to return to the podium at CUs.
UVIc placed second, less than 0.8 seconds behind UBC and will be hoping to find a little more speed in the next month – they are the defending CUs bronze medallists in this event. DiPompeo, Louis Ferraro, and coxswain Josie Roelofs are returners, with Ferraro also claiming CUs’ bronze in the lightweight double last year. Howard-Batek and Max Schiller join the crew this year.
