Sports

Girls Edge Out St. Paul’s for Second

With a bridge approaching, St. Paul’s led Andover Girls Crew’s G2 by just a few decisive seats. As the boats glided under the bridge, Andover found a second wind and emerged with the lead on the other side.

The last 250-meter sprint was spent with the two crews fighting over those few seats that would put it in the lead, but Andover won the battle and crossed the finish line just 0.6 seconds ahead of St. Paul’s for second place.

“I don’t think I’ve ever rowed as hard as I did in the last ten seconds of that race. Everyone was screaming and yelling for each other, and we all pushed ourselves and truly learned to trust each other,” said Claire Tellekson-Flash ’16.

Andover swept St. Paul’s with victories from both boats, but did not fare as well against rowing giants Community Rowing Incorporation (CRI).

“We lost to CRI by nine seconds which is quite a few boat lengths, but to be only a few seconds behind CRI, a nationally-ranked club team, is a pretty big deal. I think we’ve gotten a lot stronger over the last few weeks and we are really looking forward to taking on [Phillips Exeter Academy] this weekend,” said Vienna Kuhn ’16.

G1 had a bit of a rough start against St. Paul’s. The boat began with an abnormally high stroke rate and had to settle twice to get down to its typical race rhythm. In the middle 500, Andover made a move to open up the space between its crew and that of St. Paul’s.

The team is now preparing for its upcoming race against Exeter, Northfield Mount Hermon and Tabor, and it hopes to have improved its overall power and strength throughout the body of the race.

“We made a commitment as a team this season to be our best and work together to achieve the ultimate goal of the team trophy at NEIRAs. I have complete faith in this team and trust that we will all continue to work hard,” said Co-Captain Colby Fagan ’14.