Liberty's Women's Varsity 8 and Men's Quad teams raced to competitive showings at Saturday's Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Rowers compete against larger crews at Head of the Hooch
11/12/2026 3:03:00 PM | Rowing
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The Flames and Lady Flames had several boats finish in the top half of their races featuring powerhouse programs, club teams.
Liberty University's rowing team may have seemed like a small fish in a very large pond in this past weekend's Head of the Hooch regatta starting at Ross's Landing Riverfront Park in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Flames and Lady Flames carried only their varsity boats for the event, one of the largest on the East Coast with more than 2,200 boats entered and 6,500 rowers representing more than 200 mostly college and university club programs. But they mostly held their own in competing against larger programs, leaving many in their wakes during their 5,000-meter races.
Formerly held on the Chattahoochee River, the regatta outgrew its banks and moved to the Tennessee River in 2005.
"It was an excellent weekend," Liberty Head Coach Debbie Prowse said. "We were very pleased. It was a great trip (to) the second largest regatta in the East, with the only other bigger one being the Head of the Charles (in Boston). This is a huge event, held over two days, and a lot of the teams that go to this race are from the Southeast that we will meet again in the spring (SIRA Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn.), such as Clemson, NC State, Georgia Tech, and William & Mary."
The Flames and Lady Flames only entered boats in Saturday's races, which featured excellent rowing conditions.
"When we got there for a practice day on Friday, it was a little on the windy side, but the next day the wind calmed down and wasn't too much of a factor for Saturday's races," Prowse said.
She said besides her rowers, who were very responsible and well behaved, their parents showed a tremendous spirit of volunteerism to facilitate the boats' setups.
"We had some amazing parents who came and carried all of our oars for the rowers," Prowse said. "They agreed to help us on practice day, and they loved doing it so much they said they would do it on race day, too, which was incredible."
"We had a couple changes to the lineup from our last race, and they had a really good row," Prowse said, noting last year's entry placed 10th in the same event. "The girls passed a couple boats during their race, which is always encouraging."
In the Women's Varsity 4, Liberty entered two boats, including one put together from the Women's Varsity 8 squad.
"Three of the ladies that were in the (2025 Women's Novice 4) national championship boat and won a silver medal as a Women's Varsity 4 last spring — (Couric, Perdew, and Cornell) wanted to enter a second race," Prowse said, noting they had an experience edge having rowed together for the past three years.
That crew, which also included Gasssman and Leininger at coxswain, placed 11th out of 39 entries in 17:42.65. They crossed the finish line nearly 30 seconds in front of the Lady Flames' A boat, which features a grade equinox lineup of junior Angelique Buntin, senior Claire Black, sophomore Mckenny Reynolds, freshman Reagan Horcher, and graduate coxswain Ariana Davis (18th in 18:10.86).
"We have 14 female rowers, so that gives us an eight, a four, and a double," Prowse said, noting at the season-ending ACRA national championship regatta, rowers are not permitted to race twice. "Typically, your top people go to build the Varsity 8. Looking forward to the spring, that is a decision we'll have to make, whether we are going to prioritize our 8 or our 4."
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A screenshot of the Men's Quad boat rowing on the Tennessee River taken from a livestream of the Head of the Hooch Regatta
The Flames entered a Men's Quad boat composed of graduate Jake Hazel, senior Nick Belzer, freshman Tristan Fitzgerald, and sophomore Aidan Lovelace that placed ninth in 16:47.1.
"The Men's Quad had a really good race, the best they have had, in a very competitive open event, which was (faster) than the collegiate event," Prowse said, noting Michigan State was the only other university crew in the 10-boat field.
Liberty's Women's Varsity Double, which featured a replacement stroke in Livingston, who complemented senior bow sculler Olivia Henderson, finished 11th out of 19 boats in 19:41.1.
"We had a last-minute swap-out, and they had a really good race despite not having practiced together," Prowse said.
They will compete again at this Saturday's Head of the South on the Savannah River in Augusta, Ga., where Livingston will again also row on the Women's Varsity 8.
Besides the boats that traveled to Chattanooga and two men's singles rowed by Hazel and Loveless, Liberty will also bring its Men's Novice 8 and Women's Novice 4 lineups that raced in the Richmond Chase on Oct. 29.
"We will be taking a lot of boats to the Head of the South, which does not draw as many entries," Prowse said. "We love it. It is always our (fall) season-ending regatta, and we tend to do very well there. We are looking forward to having a great last race down in Augusta."
