Texas rowing’s list of historical accolades continues to grow. The Longhorns are set to send seven rowers — the most in any college program — to the 2025 World Championships held from Sept. 21-28 at Dianshan Lake in Shanghai, China.
All seven of the former Longhorns were contributors to the program’s national championship title in 2022. Five of the rowers will represent Team USA, including Anna Jensen, Rachel Rane, Sophie Calabrese, Etta Carpender and Kate Knifton. Parker IIlingworth is set to compete for Canada and Lisa Gutfleisch for Germany.
“It’s great to see so many of our former team members racing at the highest level in our sport,” head coach Dave O’Neill said in a Texas Athletics press release.
Two alumni are poised to make history across multiple events. During her time at Texas, Rane garnered two First-Team All-American and three All-Big 12 honors. Rane will be the first female to cox a USA men’s crew and men’s eight, while her former teammate Knifton, a 2024 Olympian for Team USA, will be racing in the new mixed eight event.
Illingworth, Jensen and Carpender will all compete in the women’s eight event. Gutfleisch and Calabrese will face each other in the women’s quad.
“I’m really proud of each of them as their individual journeys to this stage has not been easy by any means,” O’Neill said. “No doubt they’ll be well prepared and race hard, just as they’ll always done.”
The program has continued to find success in preparing Longhorns to compete at the professional level. Recently, the Longhorns had 14 rowers representing seven countries at the 2025 U-23 World Rowing Championships, held on July 23-27 in Poznan, Poland. Current Longhorn rowers, sophomore Marg Van der Wal and freshman Ilva Boone, left with a world championship title. Sophomore Abby Dawson and junior Taryn Kooyers left with podium finishes.
With the 2025 Southeastern Conference Championship in hand and a third-place finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships, the Longhorns look ahead to 2026 with confidence and seek another opportunity for a run at the national title.
