Exciting Gippsland Grammar School (GGS) rowing prospect Ella Gerrand has been awarded a prestigious rowing scholarship at the University of Alabama, a world rated program.
Gerrand is the Grammar rowing captain and a current member of Rowing Victoria’s Pathway State Squad.
A member of Gippsland Grammar’s Class of 2024, Gerrand has been a passionate member of the school’s rowing team since 2019 when she was in year seven.
Since then she has dominated the sport with her most recent achievements including winning this year’s Head of Schoolgirls Regatta in Geelong in the division one quad and breaking the Australian record for rowing a marathon distance (42 kilometres) on a rowing machine, alongside fellow Grammar student April Harrison.
Gerrand is also a two-time Victorian representative and was the Victorian Schoolgirl single scull champion in 2023.
The 2025 scholarship was announced last week with Grammar Head of Rowing, Nick Bartlett, bursting with pride at Gerrand’s achievements and said the scholarship was well deserved.
“Ella has continually led from the front and stepped up above her year level to race with older girls and in the last two years she has also been a fantastic leader to our younger rowers and helped them step up,” Bartlett said.
The highly-rated coach is expecting big things in the future from his prodigy.
“Ella’s results and performances speak for themselves; they are some of the best we’ve ever had from a female rower at the school. We wish her all the best and we can’t wait to see what she achieves,” Bartlett said.
It was Gerrand’s impressive results that first put her on the radar of the University of Alabama and from there she was interviewed before being flown to the US late this year to visit the university in person.
Gerrand is delighted to be joining one of the world’s best programs.
“I chose to row at Alabama because of the culture that I saw on my official visit; the whole team got along, but were also competitive and pushed each other to be better. I’m so excited for where this opportunity will take me,” Gerrand said.
She follows in the footsteps of fellow Old Scholar Billy Osborne from the Class of 2022 who is currently studying at Seattle’s Washington University on a rowing scholarship.
Mr Bartlett said the legacy of these international rowing scholarships was to show the school’s up-and-coming rowers what is possible.
Gippsland Grammar was the first school east of Melbourne to establish a rowing program in the 1960s and in the decades since the program has gone from strength-to-strength.
All students have the opportunity to dip their oar in the water via an introductory program as part of the year seven physical education curriculum before deciding if they would like to join 100 of their peers in the full co-curricular rowing team, which competes in annual regattas in Geelong, Nagambie, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Ballarat.
Gippsland Grammar Old Scholar Paige Barr (Class of 2019) even competed at this year’s Paris Olympics as part of Australia’s women’s eight, which in the final narrowly missed out on a medal.
Following the Olympics, Barr returned to Gippsland Grammar in September to share her story, inspire students and to thank her first ever rowing coach, Mr Bartlett, for giving her a go and helping her become a world-class athlete.
Barr detailed her transition from Sale’s Thomson River to France’s Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium and shared insights into her rigorous training regimen and what it was like to compete at an Olympics.
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, there was 400-metres of grandstands along the course, the noise and the media attention was just unbelievable,” Barr said.
She conceded she was overwhelmed at the start line.
“The whole event was set up for television and it was such a special thing to be part of, but when I felt overwhelmed at the start line, I just reminded myself to put my oar in the water and push, which is exactly what I know how to do,” Barr said.
Gerrand competed in her final regatta for the Grammar on the weekend in Canberra, rowing in the “B” grade women’s single event as well as alongside her sister, year eight student Jessica in the “C” grade women’s double.
