The Deerfield girls’ rowing team traveled to Concord, NH to compete against St. Paul’s School and Phillips Exeter Academy. The weather offered great racing conditions on Turkey Pond: light tailwind with rain and flat water. A big thanks to the host school, St. Paul’s, for organizing and running this race!
Full race results can be found here.
4V
In the first race of the afternoon for the girls’ team, the crew of Valerie Trevino ‘26, Izzy Cericola ‘24, Maggie Monroe ‘26, Sylvie Sobotka ‘26, Ella Waag ‘26, Cecy Yazwinski ‘27, Lucy Linnenbach ‘27, Edie Huffard ‘25, and Plum Schiff ‘27 raced against crews St. Paul’s and Exeter. Deerfield was able to establish an early lead in the race. The girls rowed hard and well through the middle and continued to lead St. Paul’s with Exeter trailing as they approached the final stretch of the racecourse. St. Paul’s closed hard and the two teams pushed each other all the way to the line with SPS getting the better of Deerfield. It was a courageous effort and this group put it all on the line. The final margin at the finish was SPS 5:41.9, DA 5:43.6, and Exeter in 5:52.5.
3V
The next race was the girls’ third boat of Audrey Steffensen ‘26, Allie Kostiuk ‘25, Anneke Wittink ‘25, Izzy Ramirez ‘25, Hazel Patton ‘26, Kate Andrews ‘27, Olivia Port ‘26, Holly Bernstein ‘26, and Mia Senturk ‘24. After a good week of practice, this group faced exceptional crews from both St. Paul’s and Exeter. Deerfield started aggressively, coming off their starting strokes alongside both St. Paul’s and Exeter. They lengthened to their race cadence well, determined to establish an advantage through the middle of the race. St. Paul’s offered the bigger challenge and pushed ahead of DA in the middle. Deerfield fought hard to hang onto the crew from SPS and rowed well all the way down the course. By the finish, SPS had just established an open water advantage over DA and the results at the finish were: SPS finishing first in 5:24.5, DA in second 5:29.9, and Exeter in third 5:37.4. It was a strong performance from this group!
2V
Deerfield’s crew of Charlotte Steffensen ‘25, Jane Bannon ‘26, Liv Boe ‘25, Charlotte Coody ‘26, Addie Williams-Ness ‘26, Gigi Selvig ‘27, Riley Farmer ‘26, Sloane Celli ‘27, and Jenny Jin ‘24 raced two quality opponents in St. Paul’s and Exeter. After a strong start by all teams, Deerfield managed a lead of just a few seats over both SPS and Exeter. They continued to row hard through the middle of the race, steadily pushing out a little further on their competitors. Neither of their opponents gave in, and Exeter was especially persistent in the second half of the race. DA remained composed amid these challenges and came into the final part of the race with an open water length lead on Exeter and St. Paul’s. By the finish line, DA crossed in 5:18.7, ahead of Exeter in 5:26.1, and SPS in 5:31.0.
1V
Towards the end of the afternoon’s racing the crew of Emi Takegami ‘25, Elizabeth Kelly ‘25, Fiona Van Nice ‘25, Mary O’Shea ‘25, Anna Ogborne ‘25, Teagan Farley ‘26, Tatum Lowe ‘25, Melinda Aznar Klein ‘25, and Margot McAuliffe ‘24 raced against strong teams from St. Paul’s and Exeter. Deerfield had a good start but found themselves trailing after aggressive starts from both St. Paul’s and Exeter. DA remained composed and lengthened to a solid base speed. Through the middle of the race, DA worked hard but could not make an impression on the two evenly matched crews from Exeter and St. Paul’s. In the second half of the race, DA could not hang on to the race between these two opponents and fell off the pace, eventually crossing the line in third. The final results were: SPS first in 4:58.8, Exeter in second in 4:59.8, and DA in third 5:05.6. It was a strong effort against two outstanding opponents.
5V
At the end of the race schedule was the Deerfield girls’ fifth boat race. The crew of Zara Ali ‘27, Ellie Maeda ‘27, Saadia Ouermi ‘27, Skylar Ricketts ‘27, Charlotte McFadzean ‘26, Cecy Yazwinski ‘27, Katherine Goltra ‘27, Annie Egleston ‘27 and Plum Schiff ‘27 faced strong entries from St. Paul’s and Exeter. In their final race of the season, this group was eager to finish on a high note! They had an aggressive start and were rowing alongside St. Paul’s in the opening meters of the race. The crew from DA rowed hard and well but a very capable SPS crew slowly slipped away from Deerfield, who gradually pushed ahead of Exeter. The three schools maintained these margins through the middle of the race without any changes to the order. By the time they crossed the finish line, SPS had built a comfortable lead, crossing the line in 5:55.2, ahead of Deerfield in 6:05.4, and Exeter 6:09.8. The girls from Deerfield felt great about how they competed, especially those members of the crew who were racing for a second time!
The racing in Concord was a great experience for all, and a fitting conclusion to the season for the 4V and 5V crews. All athletes demonstrated tremendous progress in their rowing and racing throughout the season. The team’s 1V – 3V will continue its racing at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championships held in Worcester, MA on May 25th! Many thanks to the parents who braved the race and traveled to Concord to view the racing! Go Big Green!