New Trier rowers bring home the gold at SRAA National regatta; many going on to row after high school

Three girls’ crews from New Trier High School in Winnetka took home top medals from the national championships of the Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) in Camden, New Jersey on May 26-27. The event included more than 400 entries from approximately 70 schools nationwide.

The Girls Freshmen 8+, the Girls Lightweight 8+ and the Girls 2nd Varsity 8+ all won their races against stiff competition from high school teams from across the country. New Trier’s Girls Junior Varsity 8+ brought home a Silver medal for 2nd place, as did New Trier’s Boys Varsity 8+ boat.

The depth of the New Trier crews was on fully display; a record number of New Trier crews qualified to compete at Nationals, and every Boys boat made it to the grand finals.

“Just when you think New Trier’s rowing program can’t get any stronger, it does,” said Program Director Rose Marchuk. “An unprecedented 12 crews qualified for this regatta, 11 raced in the grand finals and one in the petite finals. To have three boats crowned champions and two others medal is a great accomplishment.”

Crews from Florida to California to Texas competed on the Cooper River under mostly sunny skies and mild temperatures.

Coach Sandy Culver said although the run-up to the competition was ‘nerve-wracking,” her Girls Lightweight 8+ crew “knew how to fly down the course, and I was beyond thrilled when they did just that and won gold.”

The Boys Varsity 8+ races were “barn burners,” Coach Nate Kelp-Lenane said, with boats finishing within seconds of one another in the semis and finals. “It was a great race for our guys, and they put it all on the course.”

Coxswain Eden Rane of the gold medal-winning Girls 2nd Varsity 8+ said her boat was “so proud to carry on the three-year streak of our winning SRAAs. It was such a passionate race. We all backed each other up; we knew that each girl poured her heart out.” Rane, like many other graduating seniors, is going on to row in college.

The following 2017 graduates from New Trier will continue to row:

Daniel Aiken—Columbia University

Nicki Bukovac, Maddie Cottingham, Mata Stilp and David Tigerman—Cornell University

Georgia Caras—Boston University

Makhoul Cassis—University of Michigan

Libby Dickerson—University of Puget Sound

Griffin Dunne—Kent School

Paul Dustman, Eden Rane, Jamie Ratty and Paul Sagraves—University of Wisconsin

Brendan Gloyd, Myles Knight—United States Naval Academy

Lauren Johnson—Princeton University

Kelly Keenan—Georgetown University

Reilly Kyle—Lehigh University

Harris Lerner—Tufts University

Emma Lipinski—Fordham University

Carolyne Newman—Yale University

Katharine Phillips—Dartmouth College

Daniel Pickard—Massachusetts Institute of Technology