WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - With the close of racing Thursday evening, 15 finals have now been set and 44 crews will race for a 2015 USRowing National Championship.
Thursday evening's repechage consisted of two races each of the men's and women's single sculls, the lightweight women's single sculls and the men's double sculls. One repechage race was held for the lightweight men's single sculls.
In all of Thursday evening's events, the top-two finishers advanced to Friday's grand final except in the men's lightweight single sculls where the top-four finishers claimed spots for Friday's racing.
In the women's single sculls, Kelly Pierce (Oakton, Va.) won the first repechage of theDSC_4946 evening with a time of 7:48.157 followed closely behind GMS Rowing Center's Margy Bertasi (London, England) in a time of 7:51.188. The duo will be joined by London Training Center's Alyssa Weninger (Unity, Sask.) who won the second heat of the reps in 7:54.301 while Vesper's Jamie Chapman (Traverse City, Mich.) followed in a time of 7:58.354 to round out the field of six for Friday morning's final.
"It was fun, I had a bad start in the heats so I think I was trying to over compensate this evening," said Pierce. "Tonight had good water and good competition. My goal for tomorrow morning is to be able to hang with some of the world-class athletes that I will be on the water with."
The first rep of the men's single sculls proved to be full of excitement as the marginDSC_4905 between first and third was only 1.126 seconds and the margin between second and third was 0.609 seconds. Craftsbury's Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla.) claimed the first advancement of the rep as Row Ontario's Adam Rabalski (Ontario, Canada) was able to keep Megunticook's Matt O'Leary (Westwood, Mass.) at bay.
Craftsbury Sculling Center's Tom Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) won the second race of the repechage with a time of 7:17.010 and will be joined by Community Rowing Incorporated's Lucas Wilhelm (Miranda, Calif.) who finished in second place with a time of 7:18.399 to secure the final spot of the men's single sculls final.
In the women's lightweight single sculls, Southern California Sculling Center's Kathryn Shiro (Huntsville, Ala.) won the first race of the repechage with a time of 8:18.421 followed closely behind by Ottawa Rowing Club's Alanna Fogarty (Ontario, Canada) who posted a time of 8:20.754.
Potomac Boat Club's Emily Schmieg (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Vesper's Solveig Imsdahl(Ithaca, N.Y.) joined Shiro and Fogarty in the grand final of the lightweight single as they posted times of 8:09.348 and 8:25.381, respectively.
In the men's lightweight single, the top-four finishes automatically moved on to the Friday final as Kingston Rowing Club's Thomas Randall (Madison, Wis.) won the rep in 7:30.465. Michigan Rowing Association's Trevor Michelson (New York, N.Y.) finished close behind in 7:34.572.
The first photo finish of the evening came between Virginia Rowing Association's Andrew Neils (Manhattan, Ks.) and Craftsbury's Taylor Beach (Camarillo, Calif.) who finished in 7:38.883 and 7:38.923, respectively.
Mendota Development Camp's crew of Tristan Amberger (Baltimore, Md.) and GrahamDSC_4957 Mink (New Canaan, Conn.) and Potomac's Privel Hinkati (Caen, France) and Samuel Stitt (McLean, Va.) took the first two open spots of the men's double sculls grand final race with times of 6:47.797 and 6:56.171, respectively.
Finishing out the last repechage races of the day and the last free spots for Friday's racing, the Craftsbury crew of 2015 U23 Team members Davison and Ned Benning (Weston, Mass.) qualified in the men's double sculls followed by teammates Hugh McAdam (Grantham, N.H.) and O'Leary.
National Champions will be crowned on Friday morning in 15 events including the men's pair, the men's and women's single sculls, the lightweight men's and women's single sculls,the lightweight men's pair, the men's and women's double sculls, the lightweight men's and women's double sculls, the men's four, the men's and women's quadruple sculls, the lightweight men's quadruple sculls and the women's arms and shoulders single sculls.
Finals begin at 8:00 a.m. with the men's pair and will be live-streamed on USRowing's YouTube Channel.