Cardinal rower, Catherine Babiec, (second from right) competed for the US in rowing on the Wannsee River outside Berlin, Germany. She was one of three Cardinals rowing at the highest levels in the summer.
Senior Catherine Babiec, the third Babiec to row for Bishop Ireton, will follow her brother and sister into collegiate rowing next fall when she enrolls at Princeton to row for crew Head Coach Lori Dauphiny, the Tigers announced this week.
Babiec follows brother Thaddyeus, who rows for Boston University, and sister, Olivia who competes for Drexel in Philadelphia. With the strong blood lines, even her father rowed competitively, it was easy to see why she drew such interest.
She rowed for the Junior National Team High Performance boat in Germany last summer, she has rowed for the past 3 years at Bishop Ireton on the varsity 8+ as well as stroking the Ireton varsity 8+ in the just completed fall season. She is tied for second fastest 2km in Cardinals team history and was selected as an all Met honorable mention by the Washington Post following her junior spring campaign.
An Ivy League school, Princeton does not offer athletic scholarships so no National Letter of Intent (NLI) is involved, but the New Jersey school offered Babiec admission and the Ireton senior quickly accepted the offer.
” I visited a number of schools, including Stanford and Washington State, but when I came home from Princeton I knew that was the best place for me.” said Catherine of her fall visit. “I had the chance to see a number of great schools with beautiful campuses, but I liked the team, the coaches, and the Princeton campus. I also like that it is a strong program, they have qualified for the NCAA championships every year that they have been held. I want to be a member of the first national championship team at Princeton. ”
Coach Dauphiny suggests they are enthusiastic about the decision as well. “We are honored and excited Catherine Babiec will be attending Princeton and will be rowing on our team! We believe strongly that she will make a positive and lasting impact as a member of our team at Princeton. We are impressed with all she has achieved at the high school level . She is an outstanding student athlete who has worked very hard for the opportunity to take her studies and her rowing to the next level. Catherine has tremendous potential and we can’t wait to work with her. We couldn’t be happier to have Catherine at Princeton. She will be one of our top student athletes and will be part of a solid team/class.”
“This is more exciting news for our crew and our School. We are very proud of Catherine and all her teammates.” commented athletic director Bill Simmons. “Coach Eric Gehrke and his staff of coaches are doing a great job, the kids work so hard, and their families are so supportive. Certainly the Babiecs have been a great part of developing our rowing program, I can’t remember when we didn’t have a Babiec in our best boat. I guess we will have to get ready for that after this spring.”
Catherine joins teammates Lindsey Martini (UVa) and Allison Lee (Boston U) heading to college to row with top tier programs. She is the daughter of Doctor and Mrs. Dan Babiec of Alexandria, Virginia. More commitments may be on the way suggests Coach Gehrke.
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