Hun girls’ crew continues to meet lofty goals

Stinson, Raiders win Mercer Cup to remain unbeaten

By: Justin Feil
   Meg Stinson has played a lot of different sports at The Hun School. Basketball, tennis, soccer and swimming. But the sport she intends to pursue in college is crew, the one staple along with soccer that’s been there for four years.
   "It’s such a competitive thing," said Stinson, a senior who will row at Penn next fall. "You just work really hard. The work always pays off. You work until you win."
   And the Raider girls four with coxswain continues to work after remaining undefeated by winning the Mercer Cup on Wednesday. Stinson, Laura Ryan, Elspeth Springstead, Tara Zabor and coxswain Lily Wirpza, who was filling in for Val Friedman, easily defeated second-place Peddie and third-place Lawrenceville a week after claiming the state championship.
   Hun is off this weekend before rowing in the Stotesbury Regatta the following weekend and nationals after that weekend.
   "We raced pretty well," Stinson said. "We heard the coaches yelling at Lawrenceville, but we beat them by about 20 seconds. It was a good race. We’re always slow off the start, but we catch up.
   "Our goal is to go to Henleys in England if we win nationals. It’s tough. We’re always surprised by teams from Canada."
   In Stinson’s three previous seasons of crew at Hun, the Raiders have never had an undefeated season. But with a varsity boat that is all seniors, this could be their year. The experience certainly comes in handy with what’s become their calling card this season — the comeback.
   "They don’t ever get rattled," said first-year head coach Will Porter. "They start pretty slowly, but they don’t get rattled when they’re behind. At one point in states, they were about a third of a boat down and they slowly moved through until they had the lead. They row their race no matter what."
   It hasn’t hurt Hun that Stinson and her teammates will do whatever they can to improve. The girls who didn’t compete in a sport prepared for their spring triathlon fitness test — which consisted of erging, running and stair climbing — and the upcoming season by working out through the winter.
   "We row in the summer a lot too," said Stinson, a Princeton resident. "We practice all year. The triathlon was new this year. That was a cool new thing our new coach brought with him. It got everyone in shape and it brought a good team atmosphere."
   The triathlon also gave Porter one of his first impressions of Stinson.
   "She’s an impressive athlete," he said. "We did a triathlon and she did well. She plays soccer too, and she’s extremely competitive. It’s nice to have."
   It’s something that seems contagious on the team, all but one who were in the boat that last year won Stotesbury before finishing second in nationals. And as they aim for an unbeaten year, it’s that competitive side that may help them the most.
   "I don’t want to jinx us, but they won decisively in the early races," Porter said. "They went even faster (Wednesday). They’re not complacent though. They’re still hungry. Just the fact that they’ve been working for four years toward this goal, all of that counts for something. That they’ve trained thousands of hours for a six-minute race is motivating.
   "That’s what struck me most — they’re so driven. The make fun of me when I try to psyche them up. They’re already there."
   With such lofty goals, it’s easy for the Raider girls’ boat to motivate itself. It has helped that the junior varsity and lightweight boats also continue to improve to push the open four. There are little tools they can use as well, like their out-of-date equipment that makes them the target of other crews’ derision.
   "They call us white trash at our boat house," Stinson said. "But we always say that it’s not the boat, it’s the horses in it. We’re poor. Everybody else goes out in new boats and wheels their boats down.
   "We carry all our stuff. Our launch sinks every other day, or our motor breaks and our coaches have to be towed in. It builds character."
   And it’s the Raiders who earn the last laughs when they pull out big wins. There is still work to be done, work that Stinson, who has made a big improvement in her technique this season, hopes will be rewarded in the coming weeks.
   "We’re actually working a lot on our start," the 17-year-old said. "We’re awful at the start. We’re trying to get quick blades. As long as we’re ahead, we can keep open water. We’ve had to fight back too. We’ve always had to make a big move in the middle of our races.
   "We haven’t been really challenged yet, but we don’t want to go into Stotesbury all cocky. We don’t want to be surprised."
   Not after doing so well in the past three seasons. They’ve won the city championship every year that Stinson has rowed, won three out of four state crowns and are hoping to repeat at Stotesbury and add a national title. This season, they’ve gotten greedy, but it’s not without merit.
   "Every person in our boat is a senior," Stinson said. "This is our year."
   And this is her sport, one that she hasn’t given just a year, but a high school career’s worth of work for the chance to win everything.