TRAKAI, Lithuania – The men’s four with coxswain brought home the lone medal for the U.S. on the first day of finals at the 2012 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
The crew of Seamus Labrum (Cape May Court House, N.J.), Max Mannisto (Belmont, Calif.), Patrick Marre (Portland, Ore.), Garrett Rinden (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Alex Kornick (Akron, Ohio) came home with the silver medal, finishing just behind the defending U-23 world champions from Serbia. The U.S. trailed the Germans early in the race before taking the lead in the second 500 meters. Serbia, which got off the line in sixth, went with the U.S. and was in a virtual dead heat with the American boat at the midway point of the race.
“As Germany started to fade at the 1,000, Serbia was coming up,” Marre said. “We just tried to hold our ground for as long as we could. Serbia has a good second half push, and we just tried to hold that off. And then I saw France and New Zealand and Australia start to fade back along with Germany, so I knew that we were going to be out there in a dual in the last 500.”
The two crews continued to battle each other over the final 1,000 meters with Serbia inching away in the final 300 meters. Serbia finished with a time of 6:34.13 to win the gold medal. The U.S. clocked a 6:35.42 to win silver, while New Zealand won the bronze medal.
“It feels unbelievable,” Mannisto said. “I have a medal from the world championships and it’s unreal. It’s one of those things that you always dream about. It’s crazy. In the middle of (the race), I was just thinking, ‘I’m in the race for the world championship right now.’”
The men’s four of Justin Jones (Bellmawr, N.J.), Will Gillis (Seattle, Wash.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.) and Ted Baumgardner (Longport, N.J.) just missed a medal after finishing fourth. The crew got off to a strong start and held the bronze-medal position through the 1,500-meter mark. But, Great Britain put on a furious charge over the final 300 meters to overtake the American boat. Germany won the gold in a 6:25.84, followed by Australia and Great Britain. The U.S. finished with a time of 6:30.44.
In the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls, the crew of Samantha Brecht (Flourtown, Pa.), Sarah Giancola (Buffalo, N.Y.), Carolina Paini (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Cornelia Willis (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished fourth in the four-boat final. The crew was in third position, well ahead of The Netherlands, moving through the second quarter of the race before catching a crab just before the 1,000-meter mark. Germany went on to win the gold medal in a 7:12.08, followed by Italy and The Netherlands. The U.S. finished in a 7:44.59.
The women’s four of Cathy McDermott (Cazenovia, N.Y.), Molly Bruggeman (Dayton, Ohio), Liz England (Richlands, Va.) and Daphne Martschenko (Fairfax, Va.) finished sixth in the final. New Zealand led the race early before Canada moved into the top position in the second quarter of the race. The Canadian crew then pulled away from the rest of the field to win by more than four seconds, finishing in a 7:11.24. Australia took the silver medal, while Russia won the bronze. The U.S finished with a time of 7:34.13.
Two of four U.S. crews advanced to the finals through semifinals on Saturday.
In the first semifinal of the lightweight men’s double sculls, the crew of Nick Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) traded top two places with Poland for the length of the course, easily advancing to tomorrow’s final. Trojan and Meyer led early in the race before Poland took a slight lead at the midway point.
“We had a really excellent start,” Trojan said. “We took it really seriously on the start to make sure we made a statement to Poland and all the other teams that they were going to have to work hard to get to the final.”
The two crews continued to trade leads over the final 1,000 meters before Poland sprinted home for a 2.31-second victory. Poland finished with a time of 7:15.34, with the U.S. clocking a 7:17.65. Spain took third. The three crews will face Germany, Austria and Greece in the final.
“The Polish were very, very keen on getting through us, and they were very, very strong, so it’s going to be a battle tomorrow to beat some of these guys,” Trojan said.
The men’s pair of Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) rowed into Sunday’s final with a third-place finish in the second semifinal. South Africa powered into the lead off the start and controlled the race the length of the course. Meanwhile, the U.S. and France battled each other for second place, pulling away from fourth-place Belarus through the middle 1,000 meters. South Africa won the race in a 7:04.86, with France sprinting home for second place. The U.S. finished third in a 7:12.29. Great Britain, Germany and Greece advanced from the first semifinal.
The lightweight men’s four of Daniel Kirrane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), Andy Weiland (Upper Arlington, Ohio), Tyler Nase (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Philip Oertle (Zurich, Switzerland) battled to the end but came up just short of the final, finishing in fourth place in the first of two semifinals. With a focus on the start after Thursday’s heat, the U.S. got off the line in first position, as four crews took the race out hard in their quest for a qualifying position. Italy took over the top spot in the second 500, with France moving into second. Poland then started its push, moving into second place with 500 meters to go. The U.S. was unable to stay with Poland, dropping to fourth. Italy won the race in a 6:38.23, followed by Poland and France. The U.S. finished in a 6:49.42. The crew will now race in the B final for places 7-12.
Carli Goldberg (Sarasota, Fla.) and Cara Linnenkohl (Redmond, Wash.) finished fifth in their semifinal of the women’s double sculls and will now race in the B final. With three to advance, France, Greece and Lithuania established an early lead on the rest of the field and then continued to trade leads as they rowed down the course. Greece took over from France at the midway point before the host country moved into first with 500 meters to go. However, Greece found another gear in the final 100 meters and was able to take Lithuania at the line. Fifth off the start, the U.S. tried to make a move in the middle portion of the race but could not make up the gap. Greece won the race in a 7:41.88. The U.S. finished with a time of 7:55.97.
The U.S. had 11 crews racing in placement finals today.
In the women’s pair, Rosie Popa (Melbourne, Australia) and Anna Kaminski (Seattle, Wash.) finished second in the B final for an eighth-place finish overall. After dropping to second off the line, Popa and Kaminski tried to make a push in the third 500 meters but were unable to catch the crew from Latvia, which pulled away in the final stretch. Latvia won in an 8:31.18, with the U.S. finishing in an 8:38.01.
The lightweight men’s quadruple sculls crew of Roger Stone (New Canaan, Conn.), John O’Mara (Philadelphia, Pa.), Dylan Gould (Riverhead, N.Y.) and John Redos (Mount Bethel, Pa.) finished fourth the B final for a 10th-place finish overall. Switzerland led at each of the 500-meter splits, winning the race in a time of 6:38.30. The U.S. finished with a time of 6:56.53.
In the women’s quadruple sculls, the crew of Britta Syverson (Minneapolis, Minn.), Samantha Warren (Davis, Calif.), Agatha Nowinski (Sacramento, Calif.) and Martie Kuzzy (Minneapolis, Minn.) also finished fourth in the B final for 10th-place overall. Ukraine led from the start, holding off a late charge from France to win the race in a 7:10.05. The U.S. clocked a 7:19.15.
The lightweight men’s pair of Chandler Mahaney (Greenwich, Conn.) and Jack Devlin (Arlington, Va.) finished sixth in the B final for an overall 12th-place finish. The duo battled Lithuania for fifth place the entire way down the course. Argentina won in a 7:39.53. The U.S. finished with a time of 7:59.49.
John Madura (West Milford, N.J.) and Matt Schanck (Brownstown, Mich.) passed Brazil in the final 500 meters to win the C final and finish 13th overall. The U.S. and Brazil stayed within less than a boat length of each other the entire way down the course before the U.S. took the lead in the final 500 meters. Brazil mounted a comeback in the last few strokes but fell just short, 0.14 seconds behind the Americans. Madura and Schanck crossed the line in a 7:09.46.
The lightweight women’s double sculls duo of Kayla McNeill (Montclair, N.J.) and Solveig Imsdahl (Scheelholz, Germany) dominated the C final, taking 13th-place overall by more than 14 seconds. McNeill and Imsdahl built a two-and-a-half boat-length lead in the first 1,000 meters and then just kept pushing away from Venezuela in the back half of the race. The duo finished with a time of 8:06.36.
The men’s quadruple sculls crew of Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.), Chris Massey (Mills, Mass.), Carter Aronson (Rye, N.Y.) and Mike Donohue (Malvern, Pa.) finished second in the C final for 14th-place overall. The boat led after 500 meters before Poland took the lead and pushed through for the victory. Poland finished in a 6:22.16, followed by the U.S. in a 6:25.83.
Lightweight men’s single sculler Jonathan Furlong (Pittstown, N.J.) finished third in the C final for 15th overall. The Czech Republic’s Marin Slavik built a three-length lead over the first half of the race and cruised to an eight-second victory. Furlong battled Denmark’s Jannik Nilton over the second 1,000 meters, with Nilton pushing ahead in the final 500. Furlong finished with a time of 8:10.91.
Women’s single sculler Maddie Lips (Parker, Colo.) also finished third in the C final for 15th-place overall. Lips dropped back to fifth off the line and could never get into contact with the top two scullers. The Czech Republic’s Denisa Cvancarova won the race with a time of 8:39.96, followed by Belgium’s Marine Lewuillon. Lips finished in an 8:54.37.
In the lightweight women’s single sculls, Alex Morss (Concord, Mass.) finished sixth in the C final for an 18th-place finish overall. Canada’s Katherine Enns rowed away from the field in the second 1,000 meters to win by nearly eight seconds in an 8:57.21. Morss finished in a 9:21.97.
In the E final of the men’s single sculls, Chris Buesser (Ridgewood, N.J.) finished second behind Moldova’s Vladimir Malov to finish 26th overall. Malov took the lead off the start and built a two-length lead in the first half of the race. Buesser made a move as the scullers approached the 1,500-meter mark, gaining overlap on Malov’s stern, but the Moldovan sculler met the challenge, winning by just more than a length. Malov finished with a time of 8:18.63, with Buesser clocking an 8:20.89.
Racing concludes on Friday with finals in 13 events.
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