Spring Sports
First and second boat rowing past the Bingham Boathouse.
The early races showed that this was indeed going to be a strong year for girls crew. We swept BBN and Miss Porter’s, did well against Deerfield, and swept St. Mark’s and Middlesex. One of the keys to the season was our outstanding group of novices. The third and fourth boats were the strongest that they have been in years, and Coach Tiffany Doggett brought them along nicely. After the Wayland-Weston Regatta, where the first and third boats won medals but the second and fourth boats had disappointing races, we shook up the boatings and won all our races with Brooks. Against archrival Nobles, defending NEIRA champions, we raced well, won three of the four races, and, along with a sweep by the boys, returned the Cooke Family Cup to its home in our trophy case. At Lake Quinsigamond, all of the boats earned places in the grand finals, and at day’s end, the first, second, and third boats had all won silver medals. Despite some disappointment—all three of the boats were close enough to dream of gold—there were a lot of smiles. Groton finished second to Winsor in the overall points trophy. Because the first boat finished second, it earned an invitation to race in the Youth National Championships in Cincinnati three weeks later. With Diana Chen moving up to replace co-captain Jane Bang in the coxswain seat and a reshuffled lineup, the crew trained for the 2000-meter race (500 meters longer than our standard). Against twenty-four other boats from around the country, we won our first heat by two hundredths of a second, with the third fastest time of the event. On the next day, as the famous Midwestern thunderstorms threatened, the boats in our event
were sent in to the beach, reaching safety just ahead of incredible rains. The semifinal race was postponed twice, and the crew and their loyal parents waited. When the race was finally run six hours later, bad luck struck. The fans at the finish line wondered why lane three was empty; it turned out that one of our girls had passed out about five hundred meters into the race. Dehydration had struck. Luckily, the referees saw what had happened and got our girl safely to the EMTs. After several hours of hydration, she was fine. Not finishing the race meant that we were not eligible for the grand final. The girls banded together and decided to race the B final as hard as they could. They won the race by 10 seconds, putting up a time that would have placed third in the medal event. Although their victory was bittersweet, the girls came away knowing that they had been one of the fastest boats in the country, even though they did not have the medals to prove it. The last race was a good way to end a fine season for Groton crew. 1st boat Molly Lyons Liza MacEachern Julia May Faith Richardson Jane Bang, captain 2nd at NEIRA
2nd boat Emily Caldwell Sarah Black Hannah Reeve Allie Banwell Diana Chen 2nd at NEIRA
3rd boat Maeve Hoffstot Charlotte Berkowitz Jillian Howe Jacqueline Anton Mayra Cruz 2nd at NEIRA
4th boat Rebecca Brown Jenny Min Bryn Garrity, capt Marissa Garey Katie Wagner 4th at NEIRA
Next year’s co-captains will be Hannah Reeve and Faith Richardson. JV coaches Drew Kesler and Ella Steim ’01 are leaving us; we have benefited from their energy, enthusiasm, and humor. They have introduced many girls to the sport; they will be missed.
Quarterly Fall 2010
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