Simsbury Crew Opens Spring Season by Winning the Tabor Cup

For the second year in a row, the Simsbury High School crew team has won the Tabor Cup at the Simsbury/Tabor Invitational, held April 13 at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Tabor Cup is an annual competition between Tabor Academy in Marion, MA and Simsbury, with the Cup awarded to the winner of the most team points. While other crews also row against the Simsbury and Tabor boats, including Stonington, East Lyme, Boston Latin, Shrewsbury (MA) and St. John’s (MA), the competition for the Cup remains between Simsbury and Tabor, who formalized the contest in 1988. This year, Simsbury placed ahead of Tabor in 4 out of 6 races.

On a competitive day of racing on a 1,500-meter course, Simsbury’s girls first varsity boat finished in second place with a time of 5:43.96, behind Boston Latin’s 5:36.0 but ahead of Shrewsbury’s 5:52.31, East Lyme’s 5:58.34, Tabor’s 6:13.26 and Stonington’s 6:26.18. The girls raced for the first time in their new boat, the Relentless, with Lucy O’Sullivan, Millie Malloy, Jess Serra, Marissa Phillips, Abby Hammel, Kyra Sanborn-Burch, Maddie Dempsey, Izzy Kuczorski, and Chris Norwell (coxswain), coached by Ann Carabillo.

The girls second varsity boat took third place in their race with a time of 6:16.97, followed by East Lyme at 6:30.45, Stonington at 6:30.68 and Tabor at 6:42.35. Boston Latin and Shrewsbury took first and second, with times of 6:05.0 and 6:12.92 respectively. Rowing in the Simsbury Bank were Katie Costello, Morgan DeGroot, Gillian Forsberg, Paige Malloy , Charlotte Derway, Olivia Romanowsky, Eleanor Potter, Elena Marchetti, and Olivia May (coxswain), coached by Ann Carabillo.

Simsbury’s third girls boat finished their race in fourth place at 7:17.0, ahead of Stonington’s 7:21.67 and Tabor’s 7:25.34. Powering the Hawthorne were Emily DeMaio, Addyson Bullen, Umikka Chopra, Anthea Luo, Sydney Valch, Elianna Doron, Alyssa Page, Emily Goodwinand Gabby Budlong (coxswain), coached by Elizabeth Austin.

The Simsbury boys first varsity race was extremely close, with Simsbury edging out Tabor by less than half of a second. St. John’s took the win with a time of 5:11.0, followed closely by Shrewsbury at 5:16.51, Stonington at 5:19.64, Simsbury at 5:21.35, Tabor at 5:21.68 and East Lyme at 5:30.24. Powering the Ironhorse for Simsbury were Will Dempsey, Adam Stine, Wyatt Jacobson, Ethan Boyd, Elias Hanna, John Cody, Chris Harvill, James Hammel, and Joe Bogdan (coxswain), coached by Adam Askham.

The boys second varsity boat of Kyle Pilon, Grey DiMascio, Josh Phillips, Cael DiMascio, Dan Picarelli-Kombert, Austin Lemis, Aidan Schoffstall, Alex Wielebnicki, and Mia Rakowski (coxswain) finished in fifth place with a time of 5:49.72, behind Tabor but ahead of East Lyme’s 6:31.55. The boys third boat also placed fifth in their race, recording a time of 6:11.28, with William Boswell, David Brendline, Samuel Parenti, Simon Green, Justin Goldfarb, Jack Sherman, Noah Paradise, Noah Swan, and Reed Bluestein (coxswain).

The Simsbury/Tabor Invitational marks the start of the racing season for Simsbury Crew, who return to Lake Quinsigamond on April 20 for the Exeter Invitational, and on April 27 for the Quinsigamond Cup. For more information about the Simsbury Crew program, including this season’s race schedule, visit www.simsburycrew.org.