Girls' Crew Sweeps Andover and Tabor in Dominant Victory

Exeter’s girls’ crew team raced against Phillips Andover and Tabor Academy at Andover on Saturday, and all six boats defeated the competition by a wide margin. Despite a strong tail wind and the threat of thunderstorms on the Merrimack River, Exeter triumphed in every race, creaming the other teams and boosting team spirit.The first boat won by eight seconds, the second boat by 12, the third by five, the fourth by three, the fifth by 13, and the sixth boat triumphed by a whopping 18 seconds."Our race on Saturday went really well," upper and G1 rower Jensen Elliot said. "There were really bad conditions: a strong tail wind and currents that pushed boats off course. However, in my race we all pulled together and won, continuing our undefeated season. All other teams did a great job as well in the harsh conditions."The morale boost from Big Red’s win over Andover, its biggest adversary, is likely to push the team through the next few races."It was definitely encouraging to beat our rival, Andover, by a good margin," upper and G1 rower Jenny DiPietro said. "The conditions were really rough, and the wind and current made setting the boat fairly difficult, but we stayed tough and it paid off, especially during the body of the race.""We had a strong race, especially in bad conditions," lower and G1 rower Zoe Sudduth agreed. "We were happy to beat Andover. We’re still working on our sprint, but it’s definitely coming together, and we’re getting stronger as a team."The girls face St. Paul’s School on Saturday, May 18, and are racing at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association Championships the week after on May 25. NEIRAs is the final race of the season and a crucial measure of the athletes’ success."We have an important race against St. Paul’s this weekend, and if we win, we have a good shot at winning NEIRAs in two weeks," Sudduth said. "We’ve had one of the most consistent line-ups we’ve ever had this year, which has helped us work together really well. Right now the team is mostly working on getting stronger and faster for St. Paul’s and then Interschols in two weeks."This race particularly helped prepare the team for NEIRAs."For this race our start was done with stake boats, which is what we’ll be facing at NEIRAs in two weeks, so it was good practice to get accustomed with the different kind of start," DiPietro said.The first and second boats currently have an undefeated season, and with the morale boost from this impressive victory over Andover and Tabor, the girls are set to keep up their winning streak."I think that our team is looking great moving into the final weeks of the season," DiPietro added. "If we continue working hard, then I expect positive results for the next two weekends."