New Trier Women's Lightweight 8+ Crew makes history at Youth Nationals

New Trier’s Women’s Lightweight 8+ crew captured second place in the nation at the 2017 US Rowing Youth National Championships, June 9-11 in Sarasota, Florida. New Trier was the only public high school to make it to the Grand Final in the Women's Lightweight 8+ event. This was the highest place finish at this race any New Trier crew has ever achieved.

The race was hosted by the Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates at Nathan Benderson Park. The site will also host the World Rowing Championships in September 2017.

Varsity crews qualify for Youth Nationals by winning their regional championship, which for New Trier was Midwest Scholastic Championships.

Rowers for the Women's Lightweight 8+ were:

Coxswain: Georgia Caras

8 Libby Dickerson

7 Katharine Phillips

6 Charlotte Melgard

5 Josephine Olson

4 Hannah Lerner

3 Annabel Weyhrich

2 Ansley Scarano

1 Emily Axelrod

US Rowing Youth National Championships, which serve as the premier junior rowing event in the United States, sees approximately 1,500 athletes competing in more than 350 crews, representing some 150 teams from across the country – all vying for national titles in 18 varsity boat classes.

New Trier's Lightweight Women's 8+ was sitting in 4th place for a good part of the race and sprinted in the last 300 meters for a "photo finish" second place, edging out St. Louis Rowing Club by .6 seconds, behind 1st place Oakland Strokes by 5 seconds.

Coach Sandy Culver said, "I was so proud of the way these girls raced -- with composure, confidence and focus. They put it all out there and it paid off."

Libby Dickerson, class of 2017, said, “This year was unlike any other year of New Trier lightweights. We were all different ages, strength, and height. Our boat was a last minute decision that came together to make history for New Trier. The girls all stayed focused and put everything into every stroke at every practice. We believed we could medal and that mindset took us to second place.”

Georgia Caras, coxswain, and also a senior, said, “All weekend long, we focused on rowing our own race, in the sense that we focus on setting the pace for ourselves and trust our training. This proved to be an immense benefit to us, and we were able to focus on the race plan we had established instead of getting too lost in the heat of the moment. Honestly, being the coxswain of this group of girls has been one of the best experiences I've had in my life thus far. I've never met a group of more determined people that are so willing to push everything they have both for others, and to leave a legacy.”