Mercyhurst’s Women’s Crew team won gold on Oct. 23 at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. Taking only 16:32 to complete the five-thousand-meter course, the crew triumphed over thirty-five other boats in the Women’s Collegiate Eights event. Established in 1965, the annual Head of the Charles regatta is hosted annually by Harvard University. The three-day event is one of the largest regattas in the world, and thousands of rowers from hundreds of schools and various countries come to participate in it every year. As some members graduated last year, the crew underwent some changes for the fall season. Despite the changes, they have been able to show their skill and continue their victory streak which has now brought them the title of winners of the Head of the Charles. Coxswain Seanna Zona, sophomore, said that “the boat did very well considering all of the pressure that we had on us being champions from last year and NCAA champions.” Regarding the race itself, she said “everyone stuck to the race plan, worked together and we successfully cruised down the course.” The course itself is one of the most challenging in the rowing world, it features various sharp turns and bridges teams have to pass through. Zona described the crew’s reaction to winning, saying that “we were all extremely happy and in shock when we won the race, it is hard enough to win the Charles, let alone two years in a row.” “We are all so grateful and happy of our win and it still feels unreal.” Two other boats also raced. The men’s lightweight four did a solid job by placing ninth place right after the Ivy League boats. The men’s heavyweight four had just as good a showing, coming in fifteenth out of a total of 39 boats.