Girls' Crew
Varsity
Overview
MAPL CHAMPS
2007, 2008, 2013, 2016, 2018
Blair Girls' Crew FAQs
The following questions and answers are intended to share information about Blair crew; the questions presented are the ones raised most often by prospective students who are considering rowing in the spring.
When does the crew season begin and end?
Crew is mainly a spring sport beginning at the end of February on campus with the regular season ending in the middle of May. We have a smaller Fall Program designed to give our more experienced athletes a chance to practice their skills in singles, one of the most technical boats in our sport. Furthermore, we have a winter season designed to develop athletes who are trying to compete in the top boats and, but our main season begins with our spring trip to Austin, Texas. We end after the Stotesbury Regatta, although select crews may compete at the SRAA National Championships and USRowing Youth Nationals.
Is experience necessary?
Most of the students who join Blair crew have little or no experience prior to their first season. One of the best parts about the sport of rowing is the existence of a separate 'novice' category of racing, for those who have never rowed before. While some first-year athletes are skilled enough to compete for varsity seats, every first-year rower is guaranteed a race against other novice opponents. All students interested in rowing, regardless of experience, are encouraged to fill out the Prospective Student Questionnaire.
What is the general make-up of the team?
The team comprises two groups: novice girls, and varsity girls. We have roughly 30 athletes combined in a given year.
Where do you practice?
We have an indoor training room located in the main gymnasium on campus, in NJ, and we will soon move into our own rowing center on Park Street where we will have our own eight-person scull/sweep tank. We use land-based rowing machines (Concept 2 Static and Concept 2 Dynamics) to teach basic stroke technique and to increase strength and fitness. In the winter, we also have access to our school’s weight room, which we take advantage of two times per week. Our outdoor facility is located on Lake Paulinskill, which is about a 15-minute bus ride from campus.
When do we practice?
We practice after classes each day. In the fall and spring, the team meets at the buses and heads out to the river. Practice runs until dinnertime. In the winter, we practice on campus.
How long are the workouts?
The team works out five days a week for two hours each day. One day each week, we race against opponents in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) and throughout the Northeast. Basically, we expect the team to row six days a week.
Are there any morning workouts?
No.
How many races occur during the season?
Generally, we have eight competitions during the spring season. If you are part of the novice team, you will race in five to six of these events; as a varsity member, you will race in as many as possible. A successful regular season will earn the opportunity to race at SRAAs and USRowing Youth Nationals.
What types of championship regattas are possible?
Blair crew attends the Mercer Sprints Regatta, SRAA Garden States Regatta, the Cooper Cup, and the Mid-Atlantic Championships. In addition, the members of the MAPL hold a championship race near the end of the spring. The Blair crew season culminates at the Stotesbury Regatta, where we race against the very best crews from all over the United States and Canada. The top finishers at these regattas have the possibility of continuing at SRAA Scholastic Nationals as well as USRowing Youth Nationals in June.
Why row?
It’s a total experience that immerses you. Here are just a few more reasons:
Rowers are the toughest, most determined athletes you will meet!
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Rowing is for EVERYONE. Your height and size don't matter. If you are interested in us, we are interested in you.
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It does not matter if you have never played sports before or have never heard of rowing; we will teach you everything you need to know.
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Rowing works all muscle groups. It is a sport that demands endurance, strength and skill.
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It requires consummate teamwork and mental toughness.
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Many universities offer scholarships for women’s rowing. Rowing is a growing sport on college campuses.
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Blair crew has FUN. We feel that by rowing, you become not just a better athlete, but a better student and person as well.
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The team experience forms very close friendships and helps everyone grow dramatically as people. You learn a sense of responsibility toward your boat mates and team, and this transfers to all aspects of life.
Schedule
View directions to athletic events. To read recaps about past events, go to the "Team News" tab above.
Opponent | Date | Time | Advantage | Result | Score | Status |
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Peddie Dual
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TBD
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Home | CANCELLED | ||
Lawrenceville Dual @ Mercer Lake
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Mercer Sprints @ Mercer Lake, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Mercer Sprints @ Mercer Lake, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Garden State Championships @ Cooper River, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Cooper Cup (varsity only) @ Cooper River, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
MAPL Championship @ Mercer Lake, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships (varsity only) @ Mercer Lake, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships (varsity only) @ Mercer Lake, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Stotesbury Cup Regatta (varsity only) @ Schuylkill River, PA
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Stotesbury Cup Regatta (varsity only) @ Schuylkill River, PA
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Scholastic Nationals (varsity only) @ Cooper River, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED | ||
Scholastic Nationals (varsity only) @ Cooper River, NJ
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TBD
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Away | CANCELLED |
Roster
Meet the Coaches
Meet Coach Redos
John Redos ’09 holds a bachelor of science in communication from Cornell University (2013) and a master in sociology from the University of Oxford (2014). He returns to his alma mater as a member of the English faculty and head girls’ rowing coach. John’s teaching career has taken him to Oxford, where he taught psychology and English at Greene’s Tutorial College, and to Montenegro, where he taught at University of Montenegro and coordinated teacher education workshops and seminars as a Fulbright Grant Finalist. He also worked for a year as a research assistant at Harvard's Graduate School of Education investigating the social aspects of teacher and student interactions.
John brings 12 years of rowing experience to Blair Academy. He began his rowing career at Blair during his sophomore year. At Blair, he medaled at the Stotesbury Regatta in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. After he and his teammates achieved gold in the Senior 4+ at Stotesbury in 2008, his crew was the first Blair boat to ever attend the USRowing Youth National Championships where they achieved a silver medal in the Open 4+ event.
After Blair, John was recruited to Cornell University, where he rowed Division I for their Varsity Lightweights for four years. At Cornell, his freshman crew achieved gold at the 2010 Eastern Sprints Regatta. Following his freshman year, John achieved varsity letters in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. While at Cornell, John represented the United States as a member of the U23 National Team in 2010 and 2012 in the Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Sculls. Upon graduating Cornell, John transitioned to openweight and rowed for Taurus Boat Club (UK) at the Henley Royal Regatta in 2013, where his crew made it to the semi-finals in the Brittania Challenge Cup. John finished his rowing career in Oxford, where he rowed openweight for Oxford University Boat Club. He sat bow in the winning Isis crew at the 2014 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races. Following the Boat Race, John returned to Oriel College, University of Oxford and helped his crew achieve Head of the River at Summer Eights, a race originating in 1815.
John transitioned into coaching by serving as the head men’s rowing coach at Keble College, University of Oxford for three years. During his time at Keble, John and his assistant coach built the team from five rowers and one coxswain into a team of five competitive eights that trained three seasons during the academic year. In his first season, John helped enable the club to post its most successful season in over 40 years.
John is married to Dr. Suzana Markolovic, Blair science teacher, cross country coach and track coach.
Contact Coach Redos at redosj@blair.edu for any questions.
Meet Coach Paone
A 2018 graduate of Bates College, Marianna Paone joined Blair’s faculty in 2018 as a history teacher and rowing coach as well as help coach for the JV girls’ basketball team, and JV girls' soccer team. She majored in history with a concentration in European history and minored in educational studies, gaining classroom experience as a teacher’s assistant at several Lewiston, Maine, elementary schools and as a fifth-grade teacher at Oranjekloof Moravian Primary School in Cape Town, South Africa. Marianna was a four-year member of Bates’ NCAA-champion varsity rowing team, and she received the Bates athletic department's Senior Scholar Award in 2018.
Meet Coach Ayers
Classics teacher Lucy Ayers is an alumna of New York University (NYU), having graduated magna cum laude in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in classics and received the department’s Bluma L. Trell Prize for outstanding contribution to the field of classics. She continued her education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her master’s degree in classics in 2016. Before joining Blair’s faculty, she gained classroom experience as a Latin teacher at Peddie School and Caesar Rodney High School, and previously worked as a paralegal at an intellectual property law firm and as an assistant editor at Scholastic Education. In addition to teaching Latin 4 and 5 at Blair, Ms. Ayers also serves as a rowing coach, a role to which she brings several years of experience. At NYU, she rowed in the women's pair, earning silver medals at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta (2011) and the New York State Collegiate Championships (2014). A volunteer at Row New York during her college days, she also worked as a summer rowing coach at the Princeton National Rowing Association. Ms. Ayers lives in Ivy Hall.
Meet Coach Browse
R. Latta Browse, appointed in 1982, graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1978 from Middlebury College with a BA in mathematics. In 1989, he earned an MALS in Islamic studies at Columbia University and, in 1991, received his CAS in mathematics from Wesleyan University. Latta taught high school mathematics as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia from 1978 to 1981. For two years, he taught at Antwerp International School as an international baccalaureate math teacher. Over the years, Latta has served in a variety of capacities, including housemaster of Davies, West and Mason Halls, dorm resident in Locke, and sophomore class monitor. He has also served as head or assistant coach for a myriad of sports, including JV soccer, JV baseball, varsity soccer, varsity baseball, winter track and boys' cross country. Latta is currently head coach of the girls' cross country team and girls' crew novice coach. He is married to Carolyn Conforti-Browse '79, a veteran English teacher at Blair. They have two children, Tyler '08 and Annelies '13.
Team News
News & Recaps
Former Blair rowers competed in the 55th Head of the Charles Regatta this past weekend. Since 1965, The Head Of The Charles Regatta has been a premier rowing event located on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts.
Blair Academy sent two women's fours to Scholastic Nationals in Ohio this past weekend. This is the first time that Blair has sent two women's boats to Scholastic Nationals.
The Blair Crew program competed in the MAPL race this past weekend at Mercer Lake. The girls' placed 2nd overall as the boys placed 4th.
Photos
Past Results
Spring 2019
Opponent | Date | Time | Advantage | Result | Score | Status |
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vs.
Hill School
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Home | Win | 3-0 | |
Mercer Lake Sprints
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TBD
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Away | |||
Garden Scholastics @ Camden County Boathouse
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TBD
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Away | |||
MAPLs @ Mercer Lake
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Away | 2nd Place | ||
Mid-Atlantic Junior Regionals
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TBD
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Away | |||
Mid-Atlantic Junior Regionals
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TBD
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Away | |||
Stotesbury Cup Regatta
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TBD
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Away | |||
TBD - Scholastic Nationals (SRAAs) - Ohio
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TBD
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Away | |||
TBD - USRowing U17 Nationals - New Jersey
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TBD
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Away | |||
TBD - USRowing Youth Nationals - Florida
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TBD
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Away |
Spring 2018
Spring 2017
Spring 2016
Date | Opponent | Location | Time | Results |
4/2 | Peddie | Away | 4:00 pm | W |
4/10 | Manny Flick Regatta | Away | ||
4/16 | Mercer Sprints | Away | ||
4/17 | Mercer Sprints | Away | ||
5/7 | Mid-Atlantic Championships | Away | ||
5/8 | Mid-Atlantic Championships | Away | ||
5/14 | MAPLs @ Mercer Lake | Away | 3:00 pm |
B: 3rd Place |
5/19 | Stotesbury Regatta | Away | ||
5/20 | Stotesbury Regatta | Away | ||
5/21 | Stotesbury Regatta | Away |
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Spring 2015
Date | Opponent | Location | Time | Results |
4/12 | Manny Flick Regatta | Away | 9:30 am | |
4/18 | Mercer Sprints | Away | ||
4/19 | Mercer Sprints | Away | ||
4/22 | Peddie | Away | Canceled | |
5/2 | MAPLs | Away | 5:00 pm | G: 2nd Place |
5/9 | Mid-Atlantic Championships | Away | ||
5/10 | Mid-Atlantic Championships | Away | ||
5/14 | Stotesbury Regatta | Away | ||
5/15 | Stotesbury Regatta | Away | ||
5/16 | Stotesbury Regatta | Away |
Notable Alumni
Graduating Year | Name | College |
2003 | Joanna Weber | Villanova University |
2003 | Lauren Williams | Brown University |
2003 | Christine Geiser | Yale University |
2003 | Lauren Willis | Georgetown University |
2005 | Lauren Anderson | Villanova University |
2005 | Claire (McConnell) Noel | Dartmouth College |
2005 | Lia Simeone | George Washington University |
2006 | Lauren Weinstein | Bucknell University |
2007 | Allison (Martens) Eisenhauer | Bucknell University |
2008 | Tallarie Thurgood | Hobart and William Smith Colleges |
2010 | Rebecca (Litvin) Marcus | Columbia University |
2010 | Laura (Baumgartner) Smith | Duke University |
2011 | Maggie Hoffman | Union College |
2011 | Jessica Tatham | Bucknell University |
2012 | Jane McConnell | Duke University |
2012 | Bridgit Reeve | Lafayette College |
2012 | Cat Miller | Lafayette College |
2013 | Anna Kalfaian | Princeton University |
2014 | Annika Rollock | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
2015 | Shannon Tierney | Duke University |
2017 | Catherine Berry-Toon | Bates College |
2019 | Caeley Tierney | Duke University |
2020 | Cam Bentley | University of Virginia |
2020 | Ariel Cobb | Columbia University |
2020 | Elizabeth Montfort | University of St. Andrews |