Gevvie Stone wasted no time making a statement at World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland Friday, winning her heat and posting the best time of the twenty-three women single scullers entered.
"The race was a solid start to the world cup," Stone said. "I got a little too distracted by the bounce from the warm-up area in the first thousand and was happy to get the boat moving more smoothly in the second thousand. There are a lot of fast competitors out there, and we still have two big races to go this regatta."
Stone (Newton, Mass.) earned and accepted a nomination to the U.S. team that will compete at the 2015 World Rowing Championships August 29-Sept. 6, 2015 in Aiguebelette, France with her silver medal performance at World Rowing Cup 2 last month.
Also accepting a place on the team from world cup 2 performances were the women's double sculls United States Training Center - Oklahoma City crew of Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and the women's pair of USTC - Princeton's USA1 entry with Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio).
Tomek and O'Leary won silver and Logan and Mueller were fourth. Both crews were national selection regatta winners and needed a top seven finish to be nominated.
The next crew to advance on Friday was the lightweight women's double Vesper Boat Club entry of Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) and Devery Karz (Park City, Utah). With only one boat advancing from the heat, Sechser and Karz finished second and had to row in the repechage to gain a spot in the semifinal.
They won the repechage in 6:59.17. Australia was second in 6:59.66 and also advanced.
There are two men's doubles entered, Craftsbury Sculling Center's USA1 men's double entry of John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) and California Rowing Club's USA2 entry of Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) and Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.). Both crews failed to advance from the heats.
Johnson and Silveria finished sixth in their repechage and row in the D final Saturday, but Graves and Dann won their rep and advanced into the Saturday semifinal with a time of 6:21.22. Denmark also advanced and finished second in 6:24.11.
Because Sechser and Karz and Graves and Dann won their national selection regatta events, they can earn a nomination to the U.S. world championship team with a top seven finish.
"It was a full day with a lot of ups and downs," said Graves. "We didn't row the way we wanted to in the heat and ended up making a few changes in the rep. I was really proud of the way we rowed in the rep and especially the way Ben and I stuck together today. We are looking forward to continuing to get faster throughout the regatta and learn from each race like we did today."
In the men's single sculls, two-time Olympian Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) finished third in both his heat and repechage and will row in the C final Saturday.