On April 27, the Sidwell Friends Rowing Team competed in the Charlie Butt Regatta. All three boats saw success, with the First Varsity Eight (1V) placing first, the Second Varsity Eight (2V) finishing third, and the Novice Eight coming in second.
As the first home race of the season, the crew team also celebrated seniors Nick Beveridge, Kathleen Blass, Sophie Dorros, Elizabeth Hare, and Gigi Katsock. In the days leading up to the event, the freshmen made posters, which the juniors hung around the school.
The atmosphere was one of positivity as the team’s tent was filled with parents, friends and teachers, and as well as the Head of Athletics, John Square, who made a surprise appearance.
On Saturday morning, the team arrived ready to compete with their boats, the Athena, Artemis and Star. The 2V Boat was first to compete after an unexpected schedule change. In the 2V, sophomore Luca Kountoupes was the coxswain, while juniors Tillie Owen and Izzy Fandl, sophomores Lara Asch, Amelia Vaughn, Eppie Hughes Jennett and Emi Nyhan, and seniors Gigi Katsock and Nick Beveridge rowed in order from bow to stern.
Rowing against Yorktown and Madison in their heat, the Sidwell 2V won second place in the Star with a time of 6:18.2, also securing a spot in the final.
The 1V Boat, rowing in the Artemis, had senior Kathleen Blass as coxswain, seniors Sophie Dorros and Elizabeth Hare, juniors Ananeah Nevil, Alma Bielenberg, Lia Nathan, Lia Donley and sophomore Maggie McDonald. Competing against McLean, Georgetown Visitation and Holton-Arms, the 1V claimed first place with a time of 5:46.3, also winning a spot in the finals race for the 1V category.
The novice race concluded the preliminary round of the regatta. Due to a shortage of teams, there was only one race for the novice category. Rowing in the Athena, with sophomore Lauren Jain as coxswain, the Novice Eight was pitted against Washington Liberty, West Potomac and Holton-Arms.
The Novice Team came in 2nd place overall, with a time of 6:33.7, over 30 seconds faster than the third place team, West Potomac.
After the Novice Team’s victory, the varsity finals began. The first to compete in the varsity finals was the 2V team. They rowed against Yorktown, Washington Liberty and McLean. The race was close, with Sidwell and McLean fighting for the third place spot.
Eventually, the Sidwell boat was able to pull away from McLean and claim a spot in the final three. With a finishing time of 6:08.5, Sidwell was two seconds ahead of McLean and 10 seconds faster than their first race in the regatta.
The regatta concluded with the 1V final race, in which Sidwell rowed against Yorktown, Madison, and McLean. It was a tight race, with all teams finishing within five seconds of each other. Sidwell prevailed and came in first place at 5:38.8, three seconds faster than Yorktown and five seconds faster than Madison.
“It has been great to see the team evolve every year as we’re building all of our strength at the same time and getting faster,” Hare said, adding that Charlie Butt Regatta was one of her favorite memories from this year.
According to Hare, the team has been closer than ever this season, especially considering the five current seniors joined the crew team at the height of the pandemic.
Freshman Gardiner Dietrich said, “It’s been really fun to get to know the seniors better this season, especially in the carpools to school!”
Although the seniors will be missed, the team is ready for another great season in 2025.
