SEATTLE – The United States junior women’s eight defeated its Canadian counterparts on Sunday at the 2003 Canadian/American Challenge in Seattle, Wash.
Held on the University of Washington’s home course at Montlake Cut, the U.S. crew of coxswain Kate Gorman (Newton, Mass.), stroke Rachel Jeffers (Los Gatos, Calif.), Carly York (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Ashley Jones (Alexandria, Va.), Kate Davison (Bedford, N.H.), Mindy Fiesler (Jacksonville, Fla.), Rachel Dearborn (Santa Monica, Calif.), Jennie Hansen (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), and bow Carla Bezold (Alexandria, Va.) clocked a 6:57 over the 2,000-meter course to defeat Canada by 15 seconds.
“I am very pleased with how well our team performed today,” said Robbie Tenenbaum, junior women’s head coach. “We had two great days of practice and everyone was focused and ready to go at race time. We talk a lot about putting yourself in the right mental frame of mind when you go to the line and that is exactly what we did.”
The experienced U.S. squad included five members of the 2002 Junior National Team. Gorman, Jeffers, Davison, Bezold and Jones were all members of the U.S. junior women's eight that won the bronze medal at the 2002 FISA Junior World Championships last August in Trakai, Lithuania, while York served as an alternate on the team. Sunday’s race was the first competition for the 2003 Junior Women’s National Team hopefuls. The 2003 Junior World Championships are scheduled for August 6-9 in Athens, Greece.
This was the first year for the Canadian/American Challenge and it is something that Tenenbaum hopes to continue each February.
“It was a good motivator for our kids to train hard during the winter to make sure we were at our best against the Canadian juniors,” Tenenbaum said. “All of the athletes and coaches from both teams got to know each other during the weekend, and I know that everybody made some new friends.”