**Updates from Monday Evening’s Repechages**
Craftsbury Sculling Center’s Peter and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and the composite crew from Craftsbury Sculling Center and Orchard Lake St. Mary's Crew Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.J.) will compete in Tuesday morning’s semifinals after posting times of 6:26.45 and 6:24.59, respectively, in the afternoon repechage.
Semifinals for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials II - Rowing will begin at 8:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday morning.
WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - For Anders Weiss and his pair partner Nareg Guregian, Monday afternoon is theirs to do as they please after advancing directly out of this morning’s heats to tomorrow morning’s semifinals.
"I will probably just go for a light bike,” said Weiss. “If it's cool enough, we'll go for a row, a little paddle and flush everything out. We're just looking forward to the semis. My coach in college always said, 'The semis are the most intense racing,' and I think that's going to hold up for now."
Six pairs of athletes will get the opportunity to rest their legs and recharge this evening and four will not as the repechage for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials II - Rowing is set for Monday evening on June, 20 on Mercer Lake.
Three heats comprised of 10 athletes took to the course early Monday morning after competing in a time trial Sunday night. From each heat, the top-two competitors moved on to the semifinal to take place on Tuesday morning.
Those not directly advancing to tomorrow morning’s semifinal will compete in the repechage at 5:00 p.m. on Monday evening. The top-two crews will advance to the semifinals set to begin at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The results of Wednesday morning's final will determine which crew will represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the men’s pair event, pending USOC approval.
After finishing second overall in the time trials, USRowing Training Center Princeton’s Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.) and Anders Weiss (Barrington, R.I.) posted the fastest time of the first heat, finishing ahead of fellow Princeton Training Center Crew Will Daly (Vail, Colo.) and Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.) in time of 6:37.74.
For the youngest crew of the trials, Guregian and Weiss knew they would have to push themselves to the limit to compete with a field as experienced as the ones they will be facing this week.
“I hope to compete for another four years and hopefully get the racing that these other guys have had and the experience that these guys have had,” said Weiss. “I just count it as a blessing to race with so many guys that are so experienced.”
“When I first came here, I was part of the group of young guys and I was really struggling. What got me through was the advice of the older guys. So in a way, I would not be here if it wasn't for those guys who took me under their wing and helped me out."
Vesper Boat Club’s Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France) logged the fastest time of the second heat with a time of 6:37.54. Craftsbury Sculling Center crew of Parker Washburn (Andover, Mass.) and Andrew Reed (Wayland, Mass.) earned the second spot to the semifinals logging a time of 6:48.26.
In a razor-close finish between first and fourth, the last and largest heat of the morning saw four boats almost even in the last ten strokes as USRowing Training Center Princeton’s crew of Mike Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) edged their bow ball in front of the California Rowing Club’s Ryan Shelton (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Paul Marcy (Guilford, Vt.) to finish in 6:33.43 and 6:33.86, respectively. All four of the times from the fourth heat were the fastest of the morning.
Narrowly missing the direct advancement to the semifinals was USRowing Training Center’s brother combo of Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) after finishing third in the heat with a time of 6:34.09. 23 seconds behind the second-place California crew.
The James brothers will join USRowing Training Center Princeton’s Ambrose Puttmann (Cincinnati, Ohio) and David Eick (Philadelphia, Pa.), Craftsbury Sculling Center’s Peter and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and the composite crew from Green Racing and Orchard Lake Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.J.) in this afternoon’s repechage.