New Trier Girls Rowing can add another strong season to the books after their impressive performance last weekend at the Blake Haxston Fall Invitational Regatta.
Girls crew performed well at Blake Haxton, considering that weather conditions were poor, forcing the girls to row their way through freezing cold and gale winds. The 1st varsity boat got third place,
The Blake Haxton Regatta came after another big race, the Head of the Charles, in Boston, Massachusetts. The Head of the Charles is the largest two-day rowing event in the world, featuring 9,000 athletes in 61 events, all watched by over 300,000 spectators. The girls crew team placed ninth in their event. Historically, girls crew has always performed well at the Head of the Charles. For the ten years they have participated in the regatta, they have never gotten less than tenth place.
“The girls did incredibly well at Head of the Charles,” said senior captain Natalie Smith.” The course is really difficult to steer, so the credit goes to the coxswain senior Emily Averick, who steered a beautiful course. The girls were racing some really tough competition and they did very well.”
Rowing is unique in the fact that its season is split between fall and spring. In lieu of nationals, which happen at the end of the spring season, the Head of the Charles serves as the biggest test. The races themselves are different between seasons as well.
At the end of every season, one of the members of the girl’s crew team is awarded the Silver Oar. Oar stands for Outstanding Attitude in a Rower. Each member of the team submits a nomination of who they think should receive the award, which the coaches then take into consideration, and then choose an ultimate winner. This year’s recipient was senior Julia Wolf.