Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357 (w); 804-443-2703 (h)
Fax: 804-443-6781
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Margaret's Places First, Second at Mathews Regatta
Hardworking, dedicated, and master of the early morning practice, St. Margaret's 1999 crew team did what everyone on this year's inaugural team anticipated on Saturday, April 17, they challenged for the lead in each of the school's three races at Mathews High School Regatta-and one deserving team, even won.
Held at Williams Wharf on the beautiful East River in Mathews, the regatta featured teams from all over the state-Christchurch Episcopal School, Gar-Field, Potomac, Norfolk Academy, Norfolk Collegiate, Washington & Lee-spirited rowers, odd rowers (one young man wore his spandex race suit, combat boots, and suspenders!), fancy teams, fancy boats, lots of families, crab cake sandwiches, and great fun. The regatta schedule commenced at 9:30 am and finished 32 races later around 3:00 pm.
St. Margaret's novice 4 crew team (pictured l. to r.), Claire Stephenson, Hannah Bowen, Laura Austin, and Catherine and Ruth Redfearn, with first place ribbons for their win at Mathews High School Regatta held Saturday, April 17, on the East River in Mathews.
The tenth race of the regatta featured St. Margaret's novice 4 team comprised of coxswain Laura Austin, of Warsaw, stroke Claire Stephenson, of Tappahannock, Hannah Bowen, of Mechanicsville, and Catherine and Ruth Redfearn, of Kinsale. The girls, competing in only their fourth race, finished the 1500 meter straight course in 6:47.30, good enough for 1st place. Mathews finished second (7:21.74), Norfolk Academy, third (7:45.13), and Cox High School, fourth (8:27.86).
The squad bettered its head-to-head competition versus Mathews. On April 10, at the Sandy Run Regatta in Occoquan, SMS finished fourth (8:11.37), 7 seconds behind Mathews (8:04.26) in the varsity division. This time, however, they beat Mathews rather handedly. First place went to North Allegheny (7:44.92); second to Washington & Lee (7:54.30).
Surprising many larger, more established teams with a fast and furious start, SMS' novice 4 never looked back. "St. Margaret's looks strong!," exclaimed one race official at the start. 100 meters from the finish, having led the entire race, the novice 4 received loud cheers of support from the crowd pushing the underdog favorite through the finish of their best race ever.
"We got out really fast and wanted to stay straight and strong, listen to Laura [coxswain], and go hard…it was a great race!," said senior Hannah Bowen after her team's impressive win. Head Coach Jenn Klar presented the girls with first place ribbons that afternoon. "Now go throw Laura in," ordered Klar, in reference to a crew tradition of throwing the coxswain in the water following a win. "It's bad luck if you don't," added Klar, who knows from experience having coxed the heavyweight men's team at Brown University in Providence, RI.
SMS' second race, the twentieth of the regatta, featured the freshman 4 team. Following a third place finish (7:38.02), losing to Mathews (6:56.50) and Washington & Lee (7:27.37), on April 10, at the Sandy Run Regatta, coxswain Anne Czechanski, of Bowie, MD, sought a second SMS win. Stroke Sarah Taliaferro, of Center Cross, Olivia Dix, of Irving, TX, Kelly Proctor, of Urbanna, and Mexico City native Laura Garcia-Lourdes comprised the rowers led by Czechanski.
After several false starts and difficulty lining up the boats, the three competing teams, drifting down course, had shortened their race to 800, instead of 1500, meters. SMS' ninth-grade team battled for the lead with Woodson (4:34.69) but fell short at the finish, placing second (5:08.97) ahead of third place Washington & Lee (6:05.62).
"The race was so much fun! We learned a lot and gained from the experience so we'll be ready next time," said Garcia-Lourdes.
"St. Margaret's, you may proceed to the start. This is race twenty two," shouted the race official into his megaphone, signaling SMS' third and final race. SMS' novice 8 team: coxswain Laura Austin, stroke Nina Van Rooijen, of Victoria, Australia, Hilary L'Allier, of Geneva, Switzerland, Katy Challoner, of Charleston, SC, Kathleen McDermott, of Springfield, Kasey Horowitz, of Richmond, Anna Mobley-Johnson, of Columbia, SC, Emily Fisher, of Lottsburg, and Los, Altos, CA native Katie Hawks, competed in the 1500 meter short course.
Battling through low white caps and a tough head wind, SMS' novice 8 lost to Gloucester High School (7:36.40) to finish second in the race in 8:24.63. According to Anna Mobley-Johnson, the novice 8 team "caught mad crabs out there," which made things difficult.
A "crab" is a rowing term referring to the instance when an oarsman's blade jams in the water and he/she finds it impossible to get the oar out of the water at the end of the pull-through stroke. Much worse, an "over-the-head" crab denotes a crab where the oarsman's blade gets jammed in the water and the handle of the blade swings around toward bow past the oarsman and becomes stuck in a position parallel to the shell.
Sophomore Claire Stephenson kidded her teammates following the race by saying, "I was gonna bring y'all some butter for those crabs!" "We were a little nervous heading into our first race and got tricked up with the crabs-which was quite scary-but we hung in there to finish and got a little better as a team," answered Katie Hawks.
"It's great to see the team's progression from week-to-week and to see them working hard, enjoying themselves, and competing," said Kelly Proctor's Mother Martha Heric following the regatta.
St. Margaret's next regatta will take place Saturday, April 25 in Occoquan.
