Episcopal Academy

They couldn't row. One of them couldn't even speak. Jack Alden tried to stand up in front of schoolmates at a chapel service Friday morning to talk about one of his best friends on the Episcopal Academy rowing team and couldn't get past the first few words. "I just burst into tears," Alden said of the memorial service for Paul Pratt, a junior on the Episcopal Academy team who was killed in a one-car accident Thursday night. Alden and senior Pat Bernhardt, his partner on the Episcopal Academy boys' lightweight double, made up their minds: They weren't going to compete at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta.

The St. Joseph's Prep flag on the pole outside the Robert Gillin Boathouse hung at half-mast on Friday. It fluttered in the breeze like a red-and-white reminder of life's fragility. Two days earlier, the Hawks marked another death in another way, as an armada of 11 boats slowly made its way through the water in front of the family of Henry A. Backe, 82, who was buried that afternoon. "We held our poise," said St. Joseph's Prep senior captain John Gaul, who like his crew classmates served as a pallbearer at Backe's funeral.

An Episcopal Academy high school student died Thursday night when he crashed his SUV in Radnor. Paul Lewis Pratt, 18, was a junior on the crew team. His four-man varsity squad was scheduled to row in the Stotesbury Regatta Friday at Boathouse Row in Philadelphia. Pratt crashed his Chevy Suburban on the 1300 block of Eagle Road in Radnor, just before 8 p.m. Thursday, said Radnor Police Superintendent Bill Colarulo. "He apparently lost control. He hit a curb, which caused his vehicle to roll into a tree," Colarulo said.

More than Paul Pratt's love of rowing, Episcopal Academy coach Molly Konopka said, was the junior's love of life on the water. And it was that love, she said, that helped erase his teammates' doubts when they struggled over whether to row Friday in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta a day after Pratt's death. Pratt, 18, crashed his Chevy Suburban on the 1300 block of Eagle Road in Radnor just before 8 p.m. Thursday, said Radnor Police Superintendent Bill Colarulo. "He apparently lost control.

Episcopal Academy jumped back into the Inter-Academic League golf race last week, taking a pair of victories over a good Haverford School team to even the Churchmen's record at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the league. Senior Ed Shaw had a hole in one, the first in the 11 years that Win Shafer has been coaching the Churchmen. Episcopal, the defending league champion, has this week off, but was in a precarious situation after a pair of losses to Malvern Prep to start the season. "Last week was real important," Shafer said.

Crawford Hill, the head wrestling coach at Episcopal Academy for the last 11 seasons, has decided to resign. He announced the decision at a team meeting Saturday. "I still love coaching, and I don't want to resign, but I've gotten to the point in my life where I'm doing a lot of different things and I just have to trim down some," Hill said. "I'm involved in writing a book about biology, and I am also part of redesigning the biology curriculum at Episcopal. Then I have a lot of things going on outside the school.

A late surge from Kristen Hinckley helped Episcopal Academy turn away Williamsburg (Va.) Christian, 51-48, Sunday at the St. Timothy's girls' basketball Tip-Off Tournament in Stevenson, Md. The 5-foot-8 senior guard scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter for the Churchwomen, who were tied at 37 with Williamsburg entering the final period. Villanova-bound Megan Quinn scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. The 6-2 senior forward scored 13 points in the third quarter and shot 10 for 12 from the foul line.

CHRIS McNEAL freely admits he was always a pretty bad shooter. He cannot offer, however, stories about games when he missed maybe 11 of 13 attempts or thumped three-pointers off the sides or top of backboards. "Since I wasn't good at threes, I hardly ever took them," he said. "Almost all my shots came off drives. " McNeal, a 6-1 junior, is now a starting wing guard for Episcopal Academy's basketball team and Saturday at Neumann University he drained five of seven shots from beyond the arc as the Churchmen bested Malvern Prep, 64-47, in the opening game of the Inter-Ac's annual let's-get-the-league-play-started-party called the Dan Dougherty Tripleheader.

NO IFS, ands or Butts about it, the kid who wears No. 6 for Episcopal Academy's football team still revels in brotherly competition. And that's going rather well, thank you. "When I was younger, it seemed like people, even my parents, would always say, 'It looks like Jake's going to be the only good athlete in the family,' " Evan Butts said. "But now they'll say, 'You're turning out to be just as good . . . Maybe even better.' "It's fun to hear that. I take it as tremendous compliment.

Yakia had a blue smiley face painted on her hand, and a red heart pierced with an arrow on her cheek. In her arms was a red balloon twisted into the shape of a dog. Perched atop her thick black braids was another balloon, transformed by a clown into a swan-shaped headdress. The teenager was on an excursion Saturday from the Elwyn Institute in Media, a home for mentally retarded children and adults, and she was sitting on the bleachers at Episcopal Academy, surveying the football field like a queen on her throne.

Episcopal Academy, getting five goals from Kristen Hinckley and four from MC Curran, defeated Notre Dame, 15-9, Tuesday afternoon to advance to the championship game of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools girls' lacrosse tournament. Schuyler Aitken added three goals for the host Churchwomen. Katie Schneider paced Notre Dame with four goals and three assists. Episcopal will face Friends' Central in the final Thursday at a site to be determined. The Phoenix advanced by defeating visiting Agnes Irwin, 14-11.

They couldn't row. One of them couldn't even speak. Jack Alden tried to stand up in front of schoolmates at a chapel service Friday morning to talk about one of his best friends on the Episcopal Academy rowing team and couldn't get past the first few words. "I just burst into tears," Alden said of the memorial service for Paul Pratt, a junior on the Episcopal Academy team who was killed in a one-car accident Thursday night. Alden and senior Pat Bernhardt, his partner on the Episcopal Academy boys' lightweight double, made up their minds: They weren't going to compete at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta.

More than Paul Pratt's love of rowing, Episcopal Academy coach Molly Konopka said, was the junior's love of life on the water. And it was that love, she said, that helped erase his teammates' doubts when they struggled over whether to row Friday in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta a day after Pratt's death. Pratt, 18, crashed his Chevy Suburban on the 1300 block of Eagle Road in Radnor just before 8 p.m. Thursday, said Radnor Police Superintendent Bill Colarulo. "He apparently lost control.

The St. Joseph's Prep flag on the pole outside the Robert Gillin Boathouse hung at half-staff on Friday. It fluttered in the breeze like a red-and-white reminder of life's fragility. Two days earlier, the Hawks marked another death in another way, as an armada of 11 boats slowly made its way through the water in front of the family of Henry A. Backe, 82, who was buried that afternoon. "We held our poise," said St. Joseph's Prep senior captain John Gaul, who like his crew classmates served as a pallbearer at Backe's funeral.

An Episcopal Academy high school student died Thursday night when he crashed his SUV in Radnor. Paul Lewis Pratt, 18, was a junior on the crew team. His four-man varsity squad was scheduled to row in the Stotesbury Regatta Friday at Boathouse Row in Philadelphia. Pratt crashed his Chevy Suburban on the 1300 block of Eagle Road in Radnor, just before 8 p.m. Thursday, said Radnor Police Superintendent Bill Colarulo. "He apparently lost control. He hit a curb, which caused his vehicle to roll into a tree," Colarulo said.

Baseball CATHOLIC LEAGUE FIRST ROUND Archbishop Wood 7, Archbishop Ryan 3 St. Joseph's Prep 7, Neumann-Goretti 2 LaSalle 6, Father Judge 4 Bonner-Prendergast 5, Cardinal O'Hara 3 FRIENDS SCHOOLS SEMIFINALS Germantown Friends 2, Moorestown Friends 0 Friends' Central 12, Westtown 2 PUBLIC LEAGUE AA SEMIFINALS Esperanza 7, MaST Charter 6 Prep Charter 11, Mariana Bracetti 3 PUBLIC LEAGUE AAA SEMIFINALS Ben Franklin...

Emma Dahle scored a game-high seven goals Saturday afternoon and coach Lauren Rubin earned her 100th career win as Friends' Central steamrolled visiting Lawrenceville, 19-9, in nonleague girls' lacrosse. Rubin is in her 10th year as head coach. Dahle, a junior, has 90 goals this year. Ashley Tedesco added six goals. In other nonleague action, Sabrina Tabasso scored four goals and assisted on two to lead host Harriton past Episcopal Academy, 9-7. Caleigh Foust added a pair of goals for the Rams.

Kayla Quinn allowed just three hits in the last four innings on Friday afternoon, and Penn Charter held off host Episcopal Academy, 2-1, in an Inter-Ac League softball game. Jess Drossner pitched the first three innings to earn the win, and Nikki Ray provided all the offense the Quakers needed with a two-run homer in the first. Taylor Long and Dana Giles had doubles for Episcopal. Also in the Inter-Ac, junior catcher Emily Speakman went 2 for 2, scored twice, and drove in a run as Agnes Irwin rolled past visiting Baldwin, 10-0.