Jackson-Reed’s crew team has once again brought home an underappreciated record from the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, with the top girls freshman boat placing first. The second to last of the season takes place in Philadelphia along the Schuylkill river. In order for a boat to advance to the podium, they must place highly in time trials, semifinals, and finals consecutively.
The most notable moment of the weekend was accomplished by the freshman girls team. The girls struck gold and placed first in the regatta finals. This accomplishment is Jackson Reed women’s crew first gold at Stotesbury ever and second win in the history of the program, across both the boys and girls crews. .
Freshman rower Anya Furry relayed that the boat was surprised by even qualifying for semis. Preparation for the final races included the boats pre-race rituals, such as “the team’s favorite ankle squats, manifesting good things for [their] race, and writing inspirational quotes on each other’s backs.” And these rituals paid off. Amid rain, the coxswain’s speakers dying, and a budding rivalry with National Cathedral School, the freshman girls edged out a win by four seconds, securing gold for Jackson-Reed. Not only did they commemorate the win with medals, but of course, the classic crew celebration of throwing the coxswain in the water, no matter how murky it was.
The performance put on by both the girls and boys teams proved their well-earned regional dominance. Two out of three of the varsity girls boats qualified for semifinals, with one just barely missing the mark to advance. The freshman boys boat made it to the semis, though unable to qualify for finals. Varsity boys were also prolific, with two boats competing in semis and their second boat placing fourth in finals.
Though this year’s performances were lower than those of the past few years, girls rowing coach Chris Rickard looked at the past weekend’s results from a bigger perspective. “Compared with the rest of our program, these are some of the top finishes we’ve ever had.” The teams continue to aspire to the morals of greatness, consistency, and the ability to compete at high levels on the water.
After such an exciting yet taxing weekend, the regatta season is not yet over. May 24 marks the start of the last race and possibly one of the most important regattas of the season, the Scholastic Nationals in New Jersey. The top two varsity boats on the boys and girls teams will be attending, along with both the top freshman boats.
