VARESE, Italy - Injuries and illness happen over the coursee of a long training and racing season and emergencies sometimes require a long distance call up.
Which is what brought London Olympian Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.) to Italy Monday, where she found herself racing in the women's quad at World Rowing Cup 2 Friday. Martelli raced in place of Grace Luczak, who was moved to the women's eight when Vicky Opitz fell ill.
Not one to pass on an opportunity to shine, Martelli helped lead her teammates - Amanda Elmore (West Lafayette, Ind.), Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Grace Latz (Jackson, Mich.), to a win in their heat on the first day of racing on Lake Varese and advance to the Sunday final. The U.S. finished in 6:12.69. China1 was second in 6:12.71.
"It's keeping things interesting. That's for sure,"? Martelli said. "We need some work, but I'm really happy with the race overall. I thought our base was awesome and it's been a great boat to get into."?
It was a good result on a good first day of racing for the United States. Of the 15 crews that went to the line in the heats, 10 advanced directly and another two advanced from the afternoon repechages and quarterfinals.
Besides the quad, the women had wins in the single, the double, the pairs, and the eight.
"It was a good first day of racing,"? said head women's coach Tom Terhaar. "There was good tough racing and they raced really well. The women's quad won a squeaker and it was their first race together. Adrienne just got here this week and that was great.
"And the eight was the same thing,"? he said. "They were down a good bit to Great Britain and had to row back through and beat them by not much, but enough. I guess we are getting our money's worth."?
It was also a good start to the regatta for the men's squad, which won in the men's four and advanced six crews.
The day began on the right note with the two women's pairs. Racing Great Britain2, Italy2, New Zealand and Poland USA1 with United States Training Center - Princeton's London Olympian Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio) finished first in 7:01.41. New Zealand was second in 7:02.58 and Poland advanced in third in 7:14.35. They will race Saturday in the semifinal against Poland, Denmark, France, Italy1 and Great Britain2.
In the third of the three heats, USTC - Princeton USA2 with Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.), who won silver in the pair at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, cruised to a win finishing in 7:05.58. Denmark was second in 7:11.31 and China finished third in 7:22.36.
They will face Croatia, China1, Great Britain1, New Zealand, and Australia in tomorrow's semifinal. Great Britain1 is the undefeated crew of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the reigning world and Olympic champions.
The men's pair took the line next with USTC - Princetonâ's Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) and advanced in second in a time of 6:32.77. Australia won in 6:30.18 and Italy1 was third in 6:34.09.
James and Aghai face Switzerland, Italy1, Germany2, Italy2 and Belarus in the Saturday semifinal.
In the men's quadruple sculls, the California Rowing Club entry of Hans Struzyna (Seattle, Wash.), John Madura (West Milford, N.J.), Ryan Shelton (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Paul Marcy (Guilford, Vermont) finished sixth in their heat and race in the Saturday repechage against New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Italy.
Next to advance from the heats was the men's double sculls USA1 Craftsbury Sculling Center's Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio).
Because they are the national selection regatta winners, a top seven finish here will earn them a nomination to the 2015 world championship team. They took a solid first step in that direction finishing second in 6:17.10 behind Italy1, which won in 6:16.50.
They race in the semifinal tomorrow against Denmark, Croatia, Germany, Norway and Poland1.
The men's double sculls USA2 entry of Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) and Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.) from the California Rowing Club finished fourth in their heat and then fourth in the repechage and will row in the C final tomorrow.
With a senior team nomination on the line for the women's NSR winning double of USTC - Oklahoma City's Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) wasted no time getting their regatta going winning their heat in 6:50.32. New Zealand advanced behind them in 6:54.73.
They will also race in the semifinal tomorrow and face Italy, Great Britain, Germany, China1 and Belarus.
The U.S. had two men's single scullers racing and both advanced from the heat to the afternoon quarterfinal. Vesper Boat Club's USA2 Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France), advanced from the heat to the quarterfinal in fourth. He finished sixth in the quarterfinal and races the D final tomorrow.
USA1 NSR winner Craftsbury Sculling Center's William Cowles (Farmington, Conn.) also advanced from his heat in third, then advanced into the Saturday semifinal finishing third in his quarterfinal in 6:44.62. He faces Finland, Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Belgium. Ondrej Synek of Czech Republic is a three-time world champion and a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the event.
In the women's single sculls, Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.), who also has a senior team qualification at stake after winning her NSR event, won her heat in 7:29.16 and moves to the Saturday semifinal and faces China2, Germany1, Australia1, Belarus, and Poland.
Australian's Kim Crow is the 2013 World Champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and is considered the sculler to beat in this event.
The lightweight men's double sculls crew from the Cambridge Boat Club of Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.) finished second in their morning heat, but with only one crew advancing they were forced to row again in the afternoon repechage where they won their race and advanced to the Saturday semifinal.
They will race Poland2, France, Great Britain, Japan1 and Poland1.
Next up was the men's four crew of USTC - Princeton'ss Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.). The U.S. finished second in the event at the world championships last summer.
With Cole and Ochal added to the boat, they won their heat in 5:49.33 to advance directly to the Sunday final.
"It was a good start,"? said men's coach Bryan Volpenhein. "It was a pretty steady piece. I'd like to see it be a little bit quicker off the line, but that's something we can work on. It's good to have something to improve upon. But I think the final will be very tight and very fast.
"There are some good crews in there that will be hard to beat. But I'm happy with it. It's a good start to the season and we'll see how they'll do in the final. It's good to go through."?
In the women's eight the USTC - Princeton crew of coxswainn Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Heidi Robbins (Hanover, N.H.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.), Tessa Gobbo (Chesterfield, N.H.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.) and Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.) fell behind Great Britain in the beginning of their race, but managed to regain their lead and won in 5:55.54 to advance to the Sunday final. Great Britain finished second in 5:56.65 and was relegated to the repechage.
The final heat of the morning saw the USTC - Princeton's crew of&nnbsp; Sam Ojserkis (Linwood, N.J.), Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Matt Miller (Fairfax, Va.), Sam Dommer (Folsom, Calif.), Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.), Michael Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.) and Rob Munn (Redmond, Wash.) row into second place behind Germany, but managed to qualify for the final by finishing second in 5:24.75. Germany won in 5:23.32.
"The race was pretty consistent,"? said Ojserkis. "We've got to get back to work and work on a few things. But that's kind of the name of the game at this regatta and hopefully we'll come out with a better result on the final day."?
For more information on World Cup 2, go here.