Sara Houben

Class:
Junior
Height:
6-3
Hometown:
The Hague, Netherlands
High School:
Luzac College
Major:
Environmental, International Studies

Pronunciation

At Michigan
• Member of two Big Ten Championship Teams (2023, '24)
• Two-time Big Ten Champion (2023, 1V8; 2024, 2V8)
• Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2023)
• Represented Team Netherlands (8+) at the 2025 U23 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland
• Two-time Academic All-Big Ten (2024, '25)

Junior (2025)
• Helped the 1V8 (six) place 15th in Championship Eight event at the Head Of The Charles Regatta (Oct. 20, 2024)
• Rowed in the sixth seat of the 1V8 as it finished second (6:27.17) against Syracuse and Penn in the morning session of the Big Ten/Ivy Dust Up (March 22)
• Timed 6:14.6 with the 1V8 from the fifth seat against Yale during the afternoon session at the Big Ten/Ivy Dust Up
• From the stroke seat of the 1V8, timed 6:46.4 against Oklahoma and 7:04.8 against Virginia at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge (March 29)
• Placed second (6:19.13) with the 1V8 in the fifth seat at Texas (April 12)
• Finished first (6:19.93) in the fifth seat in the morning and fourth (6:28.53) in the seventh seat of the 1V8 in the afternoon session on day one (April 18) of the Big Ten Invitational
• From the fifth seat, placed fourth (6:30.70) in the 1V8 on day two (April 19) of the Big Ten Invitational
• On the first day of the Big Ten Championship (May 17), helped the 1V8 advance to the grand finals in second place (6:30.17) from the fourth seat
• Earned bronze in 6:10.09 from the fourth seat of the 1V8 to help the team finish third overall on finals day of the Big Ten Championship (May 18)
• From the fourth seat, helped the 1V8 advance to petite finals and time 6:20.14 to finish 12th as a boat and 11th as a team at the NCAA Championship (June 1)

Sophomore (2024)
• Made her season debut stroking the 2V8 and won a gold medal in 6:15.038 to help the team win the Big Ten Championship (May 19)
• Stroked the 1V8 as it placed third in the Petite Final (6:20.834) at the NCAA Championship (May 28), ninth overall, to help the team finish seventh

Freshman (2023)
• Debuted in the 2V8's fourth seat, timing 7:13.7 against Duke (March 31) and 6:47.19 against Virginia (April 1) at the ACC-Big Ten Double Dual
• On the first day of the Big Ten Invitational (April 7), placed third from the sixth seat of the 2V8 in 6:33.537 behind Stanford and SMU, and over Indiana; won the afternoon race against Duke, Iowa, and UCLA in 6:29.248
• On the second day of racing at the Big Ten Invitational (April 8), helped the 2V8 finish second in 6:23.787 from the sixth seat, behind Stanford and ahead of Ohio State and Brown
• Rowed in the sixth seat of the 2V8 as it timed 6:21.657 against Texas (April 15)
• On Senior Day against Louisville (April 30), helped the 2V8 to a time of 6:27.09 from the fourth seat, a win of 28 seconds over the Cardinals
• Won gold from the fifth seat of the 1V8 (6:21.292) to help the team win the Big Ten Championship (May 14)
• From the fifth seat, rowed with the 1V8 to finish ninth overall (third, Petite Final) with a time of 6:33.818 at the NCAA Championship (May 31-June 2) to help the team place 11th

Prep
• Attended Luzac College in The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands
• Leader in the classroom; won a state-level contest for a research and design project about renewable energy
• Rowed with Roeivereniging (RV) de Laak
• Competed with Team Netherlands at the European Championships and Coupe de la Jeunesse
• Won bronze and silver medals (2021) at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in the 8+
• Rowed in the 2x at the European Championships, finishing 14th overall
• Placed first at the Westelijke (1x) and Dutch International Youth (8+) regattas in 2021
• Placed fifth at indoor nationals (2020)

Personal
• Daughter of Heleen and Marcus Houben
• Father, Marcus, rowed in college at Triton and became national champion in the 8+
• Mother, Heleen, also rowed in college at Triton
• Sister, Aafje, rowed for three years during college at Laga
• Enrolled in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts