Women's Lightweight Crew Wins Three Medals at Season Opening Quinsigamond Snake Regatta

WORCESTER, Mass. -- The MIT women's lightweight crew team earned three medals across three different events as the Engineers opened the fall portion of the team's 2025-26 schedule on Saturday at the annual Quinsigamond Snake Regatta on Lake Quinsigamond.

Ava Thigpen and Annabel Noonan earned a gold medal in Women's Doubles, while MIT's top lightweight four of C. Sophie Thompson, 4. Lillie Beliveau, 3. Liane Xu, 2. Yagmur Kavukcuoglu, and 1. Katherine Wei claimed bronze in the Women's Collegiate 4+.

The Engineers finished the day by earning a silver medal in the Women's Collegiate 8 event. C. Katelyn Lee, 8. Josephine Williams, 7. Emily Knapp, 6. Anna Chan, 5. Anna Gluschuk, 4. Olivia Stinson, 3. Callie Karjane, 2. Lara Nguyen and B. Calder Shen finished second to MIT's top openweight crew.

THE BASICS:

Women's Collegiate 2x: 1st
Women's Collegiate 4+: 3rd, 5th and 7th
Women's Collegiate 8: 2nd

RACE BY RACE:

Women's Collegiate 2x: Ava Thigpen and Annabel Noonan captured gold in their collegiate debut finishing in 17:39.1. The duo was well ahead of the second-place crew from Franklin Pierce (19:45.9), the only other team in the field.
Women's Collegiate 4+: MIT's top lightweight crew finished third overall in 17:14.9 to win bronze. The Engineers trailed runner-up Holy Cross (16:59.2) but out distanced the top MIT openweight boat in fourth (17:33.4). In all, MIT claimed spots three through seven, with the lightweight B boat finishing 5th (17:46.9) and the C boat finishing 7th (18:16.0).
Women's Collegiate 8: The only team to post a faster time than MIT's lightweight 8+ was the MIT openweight 8+ as the Engineers swept the two spots on the podium. The lightweight 8 finished second in 14:51.3, ahead of third place Wellesley (15:07.1) and just back of the openweight 8 (14:46.6).

BOATINGS:

Women's Collegiate 2x A: Ava Thigpen/Annabel Noonan
Women's Collegiate 2x B: Mollie Edmondson/Mia Rozenberg - Scratch
Collegiate 4+ Lightweight A: C. Sophie Thompson 4. Lillie Beliveau 3. Liane Xu 2. Yagmur Kavukcuoglu 1. Katherine Wei
Collegiate 4+ Lightweight B: C. Lily Zhou; 4. Ania Kelly 3. Cassia Colombara 2. Kendall Jacobsmeyer B. Nicole Li
Collegiate 4+ Lightweight C: C. Olivia Nguyen 4. Audrey Lin 3. Lisa Lin 2. Allison Park B. Melisande Nabage
Women's Collegiate 8: C. Katelyn Lee 8. Josephine Williams 7. Emily Knapp 6. Anna Chan 5. Anna Gluschuk 4. Olivia Stinson 3. Callie Karjane 2. Lara Nguyen B. Calder Shen

UP NEXT:

MIT returns home for the Head Of The Charles Regatta in two weeks, October 18 and 19.
The Engineers have an entry in the Women's Championship Doubles (Bow #6) at 2:01 PM on Saturday.
MIT also has entries in both the Women's Lightweight Fours (Bow #6 and Bow #14) at 1:56 PM and the Women's Lightweight Eights (Bow #5) at 2:57 PM on Sunday.

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