@Frederick Gunn, vs. Taft, Choate, Porter’s, Berkshire
The Deerfield girls’ rowing team traveled to New Preston, CT to compete against Choate, Taft, Porter’s, Berkshire and Frederick Gunn. It was a hot and humid afternoon on Lake Waramaug with a following wind that made for very fast racing conditions. All boats were able to race multiple teams and, for the second straight weekend, all of our athletes had an opportunity to compete! A huge ‘thank you’ to host school, Frederick Gunn, for organizing a fantastic afternoon of racing!
The afternoon began with the G6 race. The crew of Neha Jampala ‘23, Izzy Ramirez ‘25, Liv Boe ‘25, Sunny Nie ‘23, and Rowan Van Wormer ‘24 had a terrific race against strong competition from Choate, Taft, and Porter’s. This crew started aggressively and looked to push the pace through the middle of the race. Despite their best efforts, they still found themselves in a very tight race with Porter’s. Heading into the final stages of the race, DA was able to dig in and find a little more speed to edge ahead of Porter’s, finishing 5 seconds ahead of Porter’s with Choate, Berkshire and Frederick Gunn further back..
Next up was the girls’ fifth boat of Chloe Xue ‘25, Mary Lee ‘23, Hasini Pundla ‘24, Lukenine Suphakarn ‘24, and Elizabeth Richards ‘24. This new combination got off to a bit of a rocky start in their race. In the early going, they found themselves trailing a strong crew from Choate. However, through the middle of the race, they used a relentless rhythm to overtake Choate and extend their advantage. They finished in a time of 5:57, about 27 seconds ahead of Choate and well ahead of third-place Taft.
The G4 race was next on the schedule. The crew of Charlotte Steffensen ‘25, Alice Zhang ‘24, Alessia Root ‘23, Lily Pierce ‘25 and Mia Senturk ‘24 started aggressively and settled into a strong pace. They pushed hard through the middle of the race to separate themselves from Taft, Choate and Porter’s. They posted a time of 5:54.4 at the finish, with Taft finishing in 6:19.3, Choate in 6:36.0 and Porter’s in 6:40.8.
Next up was the G3 race. Deerfield’s crew of Ashley LaBrucherie ‘23, Carson Stultz ‘24, Tatum Lowe ‘25, Fiona Van Nice ‘25, and Jenny Jin ‘24 raced well against very strong crews from Choate, Taft and Porter’s. The crew from DA had a really strong race and looked great as they came in front of the crowd with 250m to go. They finished in 5:41, ahead of Choate (5:58), Taft (6:05) and Porter’s (6:39).
Following this race, the G2 crew of Emi Takegami ‘25, Lillian Auth ‘24, Olivia Konar ‘22, Georgia Sackrey ‘23, and Margot McAuliffe ‘24 was determined to rebound from a lackluster race the previous week. This group put forth a determined effort for the entire 1500m course. Margot McAuliffe set an aggressive rhythm and this group finished in 5:28.7 with Choate trailing by 19 seconds, Taft in 3rd and Frederick Gunn and Porter’s rounding out the field. This was a nice bounce-back performance by DA.
The G1 race was another great showing for Deerfield. Co-captain Nicole Xing ‘22, co-captain Lila Nottage ‘22, Natalie Meyer ‘23, Rachel Mark ‘23, and Larrabee Pollack ‘23 jumped out to an early lead over Taft and Choate. They steadily increased their advantage through the middle of the race. By the end, DA had opened up a 13 second margin on Taft with Choate placing 3rd followed by Frederick Gunn, Porter’s and Berkshire.
In the final race of the afternoon, the girls’ novice eight, consisting of Alice Xiao ‘23, Izzy Ramirez ‘25, Kingsley Carolan ‘25, Sunny Nie ‘23, Leela Portny ‘25, Alexandra Fierro ‘25, Liv Boe ‘25, Lila Church ‘25, and Elizabeth Kelly ‘25 had a strong race against two really strong crews from Choate. They battled hard through the middle of the race and used a great sprinting sequence to edge out Choate ‘B’ for 2nd place. The order at the finish was Choate ‘A’ (5:57), Deerfield (6:10), and Choate ‘B’ (6:13). This was a great end to their first season rowing for the big green! A special thanks to both Liv Boe, Sunny Nie and Izzy Ramirez for racing twice!
The Deerfield girls had a great afternoon of racing at Lake Waramaug. This was the final race for half of the team and they finished with their strongest races of the season. The top four boats will continue with practice this week for one final day of racing in Worcester, MA at the NEIRA Championships on 5/28.
Full results of the racing can be found here.
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The address for the Frederick Gunn School racing venue is: Lake Waramaug State Park, 30 Lake Waramaug Road, New Preston, CT