Racing for a chance to represent the United States in the 2012 Olympic Games in London began today under blue southern California skies and on flat water.
Competing in National Selection Regatta II are 10 lightweight women's double sculls crews, with the winner earning the opportunity to go to Europe for the first two world cup stops. If that crew finishes in the top four, it will be named to the team. If it does not, the boat class will be included in the 2012 Olympic Trials - Rowing scheduled for June 11-14 in West Windsor, N.J.
In the Non-Qualified Olympic Small Boats Trials, racing was featured in the women's single sculls, women's double sculls, lightweight men's double sculls and men's double sculls. The winning crews in those events will earn the right to compete at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May and attempt to qualify the boats for London.
The first event of the morning session was a time trial for the lightweight women's single sculls.
Crossing with the best time was the Lake Union Crew entry of Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) and Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass.) with a time of 6:52.767, followed by the USRowing Training Center—Oklahoma City entry of Chelsea Smith (Edina, Minn.) and Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) in 6:54.185. Finishing with the third best time of the trial was California Rowing Club's entry of Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.).
Following the lightweight women's doubles, the Non-Qualified Small Boat Olympic Trials began with heats of the women's single sculls. The top two crews in each of the heats advanced to the semifinals. Seattle Rowing Center's Lindsay Meyer (Seattle, Wash.) posted the fastest time of the three heats, finishing in 7:47.970, followed by Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.), who finished her heat with a time of 7:54.251. Finishing with the third best time in the heats was California Rowing Club's Isolda Penney (Kingston, Ontario) with a time of 8:01:474.
Both Stone, who finished 11th last year at the world championships in the event, and Meyer, a Beijing Olympian in the quadruple sculls, rowed well ahead of the competition.
Next up were the heats of the men's double sculls. Posting the best time in that three-heat event was the USRowing Training Center—Chula Vista entry of Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) who finished in 6:29.019, followed by the Penn Athletic Club/Potomac Boat Club composite entry of William Cowles (Farmington, Conn.) and Stephen Whelpley (Moquon, Wis.), 6:29.343, and USTC—Chula Vista's Elliot Hovey (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.) and Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) who finished in 6:36.727.
In the lightweight men's double sculls, 10 crews went to the line with the top three finishing times posted by the Cambridge Boat Club and USTC—Oklahoma City composite entry of Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) and Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), 6:42.998, followed by Craftsbury Sculling Center's Brian de Regt (Rowayton, Conn.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) with a time of 6:47.195, and the Vesper Boat Club and Undine Boat Club composite entry of Nick Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg (Philadelphia, Pa.) in 6:46.584.
In the final event of the morning, the women's double sculls, the two USRowing Training Center—Princeton entries posted the fastest times of the two heats with Ellen Tomek (Flint, Mich.) and Megan Kalmoe (St, Croix Falls, Wis.) posting a 7:18.542 followed by Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) and Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.), in 7:25.259.
Racing resumes this afternoon at 5:50 p.m. PDT with repechage racing. Race schedule and results will be available at www.usrowing.org.
USRowing will live stream A and B finals for this event online at http://www.ustream.tv/usrowing beginning 9:00 a.m. PDT on April 12.
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