The first day of the Saratoga Invitational, held April 30 to May 1, brought sunshine and wind with warm temperatures. Racing took place over two days to accommodate more than 40 teams and 800 entries. Bromfield/Acton-Boxborough crews tested themselves against the best in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions.
The varsity girls had strong performances in the double events. Though they felt they could have rowed a better technical race, Caroline Hart and Olivia Maclean’s efforts resulted in a tie for the gold medal. Sylvia Sarnik and Elizabeth Swain continued to improve, earning silver in the lightweight event.
The Varsity Eight had a solid performance, although their start was not as effective as usual. They fought back to second place, but were unable to catch the EL Crossley crew. During warmup, a piece of the collar on one of the oars broke.
Rower Allie Bollman explained after the race, “I was worried I was going to catch a crab every stroke.”
In spite of the difficulties, the crew finished with a seventh place overall ranking out of 28 crews.
The wind picked up and the water was crazy by the time the Second Varsity Eight raced. The crew could not get a good “bite” on the water due to a strong tailwind and choppy water. In these conditions, rowers catch crabs (the oar becomes stuck in the water, pulling the boat to a stop) and throw up water spray with each stroke. It was a wild and wet race for the girls, and, although disappointed, they placed in the top half of the event.
Sunday dawned a spectacular rowing day, calm and sunny with temperatures in the 70s. The girls were ready to improve on Saturday’s challenging races. Coach Holly Hatton set a season goal of going 7:00 for 2,000 meters for the Varsity Eight. The crew, cox Ellie Kendall, and oarsmen Kate Lee, Bollman, Hart, Maclean, Tola Myczkowska, Swain, Katja Lierhaus, and KC Faulkner, arrived ahead of schedule. They won their flight by open water in an outstanding high school time of 6:58, placing fifth overall behind four nationally ranked programs.
The Second Varsity also exceeded goal pace, averaging 1:52 and placing sixth. Cox Polly Lauer said their first 500 meters were the best they had ever pulled. Joining Lauer were Sarnik, Elizabeth Wilkey, Olivia Lukacic, Jillian Saydah, Emily Mitchell, Hannah Porter, Mackenzie Grant and Mary Egan.
In the last varsity race, the four rowers hopped into a borrowed boat, with no practice as a group since October 2010. They finished in seventh place. This was the fourth race of the weekend for Maclean and Swain and the third for Kendall, Lee and Bollman.
The Junior Varsity Four, cox Elizabeth Edwards, Ki Jung Lee, Annie Cooper, Samantha Schena and Meghan Glade raced twice, with solid efforts on both occasions. All four rowers were novices, racing against experienced rowers. On Saturday the four placed 15th, despite a strong tail wind and choppy water. After removing the shell from the water, it became clear that it had lost the skeg, making the boat harder to steer and set. On Sunday the four raced again, rowing a cleaner race, again beating several experienced junior varsity crews.
The Novice Four had a strong race, despite a malfunctioning seat that forced them to drop out a pair several times. The crew handled themselves well, by staying calm and rowing hard. Cox Emily Erdos and rowers Emily Hedison, Heidi Nocka, Molly Hart, and Julia Leblanc still managed to place fourth.
The Novice Eight also raced twice, with a lineup change (Erdos, Hedison, Nocka, Hart, Leblanc, Laura Jarvis, Porter on Saturday/Cooper on Sunday, Anya Plucinsky, Maddie Windsor). On Saturday the eight struggled to find a good rhythm in the strong tail wind. With the big chop, the crew caught a crab with 500 to go. Unable to get her seat back on track, the afflicted rower sprinted to the finish, rowing arms and back only. The crew remained calm and executed a great sprint, to nip Essex at the line and place fifth. On Sunday the crew rowed its best race to date, surging at the finish and earning a bronze medal.
Coach Grace Hollowell observed, “The girls made good changes from race to race; they handled themselves with composure and grace…they found out that they can always ask for more. I’m incredibly excited and lucky to get to work with such a determined group. I can’t wait to see where we can go from here.”
