Here’s one girl who can swim with the big kois.
Fort Greene’s own Sarah Murray spanked the boys into submission in the 62nd annual Macy’s Fishing Contest in Prospect Park this week, becoming the first girl in the competition’s 62 years to win the grand prize.
This year’s contest, which took place from July 15 to 19, had 3,885 contestants, most of them boys. But the 13-year-old Slingin’ Sarah never let them faze her, staying focused through all five grueling days — the toughest in all of fishing, some pescephiles say — to emerge victorious with 22 fish caught (and released, by the way).
“It feels really good beating a bunch of guys,” she said. “Girls can play any guys sports, and they can be just as good as guys at pretty much anything.”
Like a latter-day Billie Jean King, Murray’s triumph over her fishing foes began at the ripe age of 7, when her father — an angler himself — taught her the sweet science. Despite a complete lack of encouragement from her school, Brooklyn Friends, she reached the Lido deck of the fishing world.
“It’s a Quaker school, so they’re not really into the whole killing-fish thing,” she said.
