The first six crews of the 2017 USA junior (or U19 as now seems to be the custom) team earned their unis yesterday after winning the second of two finals on the day in the best-of-three format. From here, the rest of the US junior team will be selected from camps, which will be selected by July 12.
We talked to all of the winners; here is what they had to say.
Men's Single
Sarasota-based sculler Clark Dean spends his time going back and forth between the eight and the single, having won the Stotesbury, Southeast Regionals, and a couple races in Sarasota in the single, but otherwise rowing in the eight – two boats that could not be more different.
"They definitely are different, but I like a lot of things about both of them," Dean said after winning the singles trial. "I like being in a single and knowing that when you're working out it's for you and for your speed. I like how quickly you can make changes, and do whatever you want in a race scenario. But I also like being in an eight with teammates, and being part of a team. "
Dean has been swapping back and forth between the fastest boat in the sport and the slowest for a long time without too much trouble.
"I've been going back and forth as long as I've been rowing," he said. " I started in the eight, but within a year I was rowing a single and in the eights, and since then I have been going back and forth. During the season, I usually row the eight in practice, and then at least three times a week I get in the single."
Dean is looking forward to representing the US in a sculling boat.
"It's exciting to be racing for the US in the single at a time when US sculling is getting better," he said. "Last year we came third in the quad, and that got things started for me, so I am looking forward to trying to keep that going."
Women's Single
Singles winner Claire Campbell spent her first year in the single this year after racing with her sister Mary in the double in 2014, and has found the experience lonely at times, but overall to her liking.
"I like it, though it is a little lonely," she said. "I like the double better, but the single is just a 'me' thing, which is nice."
It helps that she trains with a larger group at her home club Maritime Rowing.
"After long rows in the single, I go in and work out in our boathouse that our high school team is also using, so as soon as I dock I'm around people."
Earlier in the year, Campbell was rowing both the single and double, and once she got in the single fulltime started finding speed.
"I rowed in the beginning of the spring season in doubles, but when I got in the single I felt really good in the boat," she said. "I felt like with my finish at the Head of the Charles, if I had just been in the single, I could have done so much better, so I was really motivated."
Campbell said she is excited to represent the US in the single, especially following the example of her older brother Andrew, who is the oldest of the rowing siblings, while Claire is the youngest.
"Andrew won nationals his senior year in the single, and then he went to Worlds in the single as well, so it's the oldest and youngest doing the same thing."
Men's Pair
The winning men's pair of Daniel Stoddard and Drew Hickey served as co-captains at PNRA/Mercer this year, and have been rowing together for five years all told, an unusual situation for junior rowers to say the least.
"Mercer does learn to row novice camps for middle schoolers, and we both started at the same camp when we were going into eight grade," Hickey said.
The duo, who go to different high schools (Hickey live in Yardley PA and goes to Notre Dame, Stoddard lives in West Windsor and goes to West Windsor High), got their start in the pair after missing the eight in their sophomore year.
"In the summer of our sophomore year, our coach took us aside and said, well, the bad news is you're not in contention for the varsity eight, but we're going to give you this pair just for fun," Hickey recalled. "Then we raced at Canadian Henley and did not terribly, getting second in our heat. So they thought there was potential, and we just stuck with it over the years."
The two have been friends since, which helps the dynamic in the pair as well as on their team.
"We're co-captains of our team, and as Drew said, we've been pretty good friends since eighth grade, and , so I think that definitely helps a lot. One of the things our coach enforces most is team culture, so we're always trying to better each other, and everything we do is for the good of the team."
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Hickey said; "when you said 'you're on the US team,' it was still a bit 'whoa, wait, me?'"
"The Worlds are going to be at a whole new level for us," Stoddard said. "We're excited for it."
Women's Pair
The women's pair had only one entry, with Kate Burns and Kaitlin Knifton of the selection camp racing unopposed in the morning to earn the pair spot on the US team.
"We just decided who would race the pair two days ago, so we don't have much time in the boat," Burns said after the race. "We knew we just had to qualify, which meant get the bow across, so we were not too nervous. We just wanted to get a solid race down the course to see what we could do because we haven't been in this lineup ever, really. We're really excited to go to Lithuania."
Women's Double
The winning double of Jenna Hardman and Sarah Brunsberg were actually the US Junior Camp B entry for the trials, but a strong second thousand in both the morning and evening finals helped them row from behind into the lead for the two wins it took to earn their spot on the US team.
Coming out of the camp, the crew only came together a couple days before the final.
"We had only one session, and then we switched our lineup and had another session, just a paddle to bring it together," Brunsberg said. "There was definitely some urgency there, but we just stayed focused and we were able to improve a ton in a very short time."
Further, they live and row eight time zones apart; Hardman lives in Seattle and rows at Seattle Rowing Center, while Brunsberg lives in London and rows at the American School in London. Despite rowing in different countries and different styles, they did find they had something in common.
"Both of us had a lot of races where we had come back from behind," Hardman said. "Sarah does a really good job of helping me stay calm and to focus on our boat. In the first 500, we knew it was going to be a little bit rough, so we just stuck with it, stuck together, didn't really pay attention to where were in the field. Then after that, when it started to smooth out a little bit, we just tried to lay it down a little bit more, and a little bit more."
"It's kind of my usual strategy, and I think if you're able to stay calm and have trust in yourself and your experience, it can be beneficial," Brunsberg said, and noted that the rougher waters in the first 500 may have played to their strengths. "I was struggling a little bit in the conditions, and it was hard to row hard, but it worked out that as the conditions got better, you could get better. " "We knew we were going to be in the boat together after our practice Wednesday morning, so we thought okay, this is what it is, and we're just going to go for it and see what we can do," Hardman said. "Just staying positive and open to whatever happens was really helpful, and just going in it together and knowing that we're a team.
With such a steep learning curve, the crew is looking forward to the rest of the summer.
"Hopefully we'll get some really good practice in, and have even more confidence together," Brunsberg said.
"Nervous, exciting, scary, I would say all of those things; but we're going together, and I am looking forward to it," Hardman added.
Men's Double
The men's double was the closest race of the morning, and after a delay due to a broken fin before the second final, many wondered if this one would go to Friday morning for the third final. But the new camp combo of Greg Cain and Toby Satterthwaite had learned enough from their morning row to be able to put all doubts away fairly early on on the way to a six-second win.
"Our row this morning was really our first 2K race together at a high rate, so naturally there were some things that we could work on right off the bat," Satterthwaite said. "Obviously nerves were part of it, and also between the races we really focused on recovery. We tried to staying loose for the second race, and to improve upon our pacing, and improve upon a good row together. "
"After the first race, we talked about how much more we had to give," Cain said. "We didn't really know our limitations, so you just have to go out there and test those boundaries. We're definitely too hesitant to low in the rate this morning, so we were able to come back together and have a more definitive race plan once we knew our capabilities.
"So we knew we could go out quick, and instead of settling, just stay at that pace knowing we could sustain it. We were able to execute upon that nicely. "
The crew came together 10 days ago in the selection camp.
"Our coach identified us with people having similar strokes, so we got into the double and really tried to put some miles in, get in some good pieces, and throw everything we had at it," Satterthwaite said.
The two had also raced each other in the single during the spring, which they hashed out in between their first couple practices, then got on with it.
"There was definitely some growling on it, especially between practices," Cain said, laughing. "So we talked about it, but as soon as we were in the boat it came together and it was just like coasting, and then it was one goal, which was to come here and do what we could."
The racing delay barely put a dent in their preparation.
"In the beginning it's natural to be frustrated, but the important thing was really just to stay loose and focused, and to just deal with what came at us," Satterthwaite said. "We made a decision to come back in, and as soon as we were in we got the boat out of slings, got on the ergs to stay warm, and just waited for instructions. Not much you can do."
"One of the first things I learned with rowing is that nothing's going to go to plan," Cain said. "Even if you have a solid plan, you have to be able to roll with the punches. Being able to be a good competitor is a large part of that; just being flexible and able to adapt. I think we did a good job of executing upon that; not letting our nerves get to us, or to get too much in our own heads. Just sticking with what we know, and trusting our training; that type of approach." The crew is looking forward to the next stretch of training and racing with the trials win checked off.
"Making the junior national team has been my main goal for the last year, and that's what I've been pushing towards," Satterthwaite said. "I really upped my training over the past year, especially over the winter. I had a pretty big setback in the spring with an injury that knocked me out for a while, so I'm really excited to actually get to represent the United States, and I'm looking forward to the training ahead and competition."
"I know that we have a ton of speed to gain, so to come out here and be competitive against crews that have been training together all year, and were competitive nationally, it's exciting for us, because it looks like a bright future for us as a crew," Cain said. "From here, there's a lot of hard work ahead; a lot of brutal training and commitment to have our best performance at the world championship."
The 2017 Junior World Championships take place August 2-6 in Trakai, Lithuania.
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