The Deerfield girls’ rowing team traveled to Hanover, NH to compete against Hanover High School and Phillips Exeter Academy. While stormy weather affected most of New England, we had decent racing conditions: periods of rain and wind, but the water remained rowable for all of the racing. A big thanks to the host school, Hanover, for organizing this regatta!
Full race results can be found here.
1V: Towards the end of the afternoon’s racing the crew of Emi Takegami ‘25, Fiona Van Nice ‘25, Addie Williams-Ness ‘26, Gigi Selvig ‘27, Laura Kim‘26, Sloane Celli ‘27, Tatum Lowe ‘25, Riley Farmer ‘26, and Teagan Farley ‘26 raced against crews from Hanover and Exeter. The crew had a good start, but found themselves trailing Exeter by a few seats after the opening strokes of the race. Through the middle, Exeter established a lead of several seats over Deerfield and the two crews moved away from Hanover. Deerfield remained persistent and pushed back into the leading Exeter crew. However, Exeter countered and was able to extend their lead to a length by the finish line. Exeter crossed the finish first in a time of 5:07.6, ahead of Deerfield in 5:11.0, and Hanover in third 5:43.0.
2V: Deerfield’s crew of Charlotte Steffensen ‘25, Ariana Djunic ‘26, Hazel Patton ‘26, Charlotte Coody ‘26, Anna Ogborne ‘25, Melinda Aznar Klein ‘25, Elizabeth Kelly ‘25, Mary O’Shea ‘25, and Jane Bannon ‘26 raced crews from Hanover and Exeter in the girls’ second boat. This turned out to be a terrific race for Deerfield. The wind proved to be very challenging but after a strong start by all three teams, Deerfield managed to build a substantial margin over both Exeter and Hanover through the middle of the race. They handled the weather conditions well and demonstrated good progress in their racing ability. By the finish, Deerfield crossed in a time of 6:03.3, ahead of Exeter in 6:22.7 and Hanover in 6:35.7. This group continues to make improvements to their racing every week!
3V: In the first race of the afternoon the girls’ third boat of Audrey Steffensen ‘26, Alia Marquardt ‘27, Rowan Skinner ‘26, Lucy Linnenbach ‘27, Kate Andrews ‘27, Lily Johnson ‘28, Holly Bernstein ‘26, Liv Boe ‘25, and Claire Xia ‘28 had a great row against crews from Hanover and Exeter. This race highlighted some great progress over the last week! Making quick use of a strong starting sequence, Deerfield moved through both Exeter and Hanover High School to gain the lead early in the race. In the middle second of the race, the crew from Deerfield began to separate from the rest of the pack; they continued to extend their lead over the competition, gaining open water over their competitors. With a strong sprint, Deerfield finished with an open water lead over both Exeter (2nd) and Hanover (3rd).
4V: In the first race of the afternoon for the girls’ team, the crew of Zara Ali ‘27, Plum Schiff ‘27, Liesel Stitch ‘28, Annie Egleston ‘27, Katie Mountz ‘27, Cecy Yazwinski ‘27, Katherine Goltra ‘27, Eloise Forrest ‘28, and Alia Marquardt ‘27 raced against Hanover High School and Exeter. After a strong start, the girls from Deerfield powered down the race course. This crew used a very strong base pace to separate from both Exeter and Hanover and build an open-water lead. By the finish line, Deerfield was rowing long and well and crossed in a time of 5:58.7, ahead of Hanover 6:19.5 and Exeter in 6:29.4. This group has shown a lot of progress over the last few weeks and it was great to see them demonstrate that in their racing!
5V: At the end of the race schedule was the Deerfield girls’ fifth boat race. The crew of Naomi Kim ‘28, Vi Reddy ‘27, Ellie Maeda ‘27, Rania Limam ‘27, Skylar Ricketts ‘27, Stella Hu ‘28, Alyssa DeRosa ‘28, Ava Cederholm ‘27 and Olivia Minn ‘28 raced for the first time this season! In this boat race, Deerfield faced two entries from Exeter and one from Hanover. After a good start, DA found themselves in a tight race with two entries from Exeter. These three crews battled each other through the middle of the course with plenty of overlap between the boats. In the final 300m, the Exeter 5V pushed ahead to establish a lead, but the Deerfield boat and Exeter 6V continued to battle each other stroke for stroke. The girls from Deerfield ended up finishing this exciting race in 2nd, just ahead of the Exeter 6V. It was a great way for this group to start their season and an indication of really good development from this group over the past month!
The racing in Hanover was a great experience for all, especially as it allowed our entire program (boys’ and girls’ teams) to race together at the same event. Many thanks to the parents who were able to travel to Hanover and view the racing! Go Big Green!