ST. CATHARINES, Ont., Canada - Light rain showers brought strong tailwinds to the rowing venue at St. Catharines, making for several fast finishes and a rare gold medal tie in the final of the men's pair. The United States added three medals to its count, taking silver in both the women's single sculls and lightweight men's double sculls and bronze in the lightweight women's double sculls.
Katherine McFetridge (Thorofare, N.J.) started the day off with a silver-medal performance in the single. The Vesper Boat Club sculler and first-time national team member posted a time of 7:38.21 behind Canada's Carling Zeeman, who won gold in a 7:30.86. Zeeman finished sixth in the quad at the 2014 World Rowing Championships and fourth at 2015 World Rowing Cup 2 in Varese, Italy.
"This feels incredible," said McFetridge. "I knew it was going to be a fast race, the tail was strong and I used it fairly well. It was the fastest race I've ever pulled in my life.
McFetridge was third crossing the first and second 500-meter markers, but was able to work her way even with 40-year-old Soraya Jadue of Chile by the three-quarter mark. At the line, it was Canada, U.S. and Chile for the podium positions.
"I knew I had a little bit of climbing back to do (from third at the 500-meter mark), but I was in control and just had to stay long. It felt great. I've had so many supporters, I felt like everyone was right there with me. I didn't feel alone at all. I have an incredible team and an incredible family and support system. We all banded together."
In the lightweight women's double sculls, Victoria Burke (Redding, Conn.) and Sarah Giancola (Buffalo, N.Y.) sprinted past Argentina for the bronze medal in a 7:03.86. Canada's Katherine Sauks and Liz Fenje won gold in 6:57.23 and Cuba's Licet and Yilena Hernandez won silver in 7:00.36.
"We just had that little bit left in us, the last 250 to 300 meters or so," said Giancola, who took seventh at the 2014 World Rowing Championships.
"In that last 500 meters, hearing everyone just gets you going," said Burke. "People have said it before, and it's true. (The crowd) really brings you home.
"We came (to the Pan American Games) to make progress. We have our eyes set on 2016, like everyone else here does. I think we're pretty happy with the competition. We got to experience that build-up, so that's pretty special for us to have that opportunity. We've got a little work to do, and we're looking forward to the next year."
Next up, U.S. lightweight double scullers Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) of Cambridge Boat Club and Colin Ethridge (Laytonsville, Md.) of Malta Boat Club had the lead halfway, but fell back to second by the 1,500-meter mark. A late charge to the line brought them less than two seconds from catching Mexico's Alexis Lopez and Alan Armenta, who won gold in 6:15.65.
"We had a really good start, and we led for a long time," said Meyer. "We weren't able to push away in the third 500 (meters) like we wanted to. It came down to the last 250 (meters), and it's always tricky in these conditions."
Meyer and Ethridge, who qualified for the senior national team that will race at the 2015 World Rowing Championships next month, crossed the line in second for the silver medal in 6:17.34.
"It was a really hard-fought race from start to finish," said Ethridge. "We gave it everything we had, but we came up short in the end."
Meyer and Ethridge returned less than an hour later to race in the final of the men's quadruple sculls with Ryan Monaghan (Pittsford, N.Y.) of California Rowing Club and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) of Potomac Boat Club.
The U.S. crew rowed in fifth place crossing each of the 500-meter marks, crossing the line in 6:05.02. Monaghan and Stitt finished fourth, just outside the medals on Monday in the men's double sculls.
In one of the most exciting finishes of the regatta, Argentina and Chile tied for gold in men's pair, both recording a time of 6:27.77. Mexico followed for the bronze medal. USTC - Oklahoma City's Brendan Harrington (Garden City, N.Y.) and Matthew Mahon (St. Louis, Mo.) finished sixth, less than a second behind fourth-place Brazil, with a time of 6:39.77.
The United States goes the line in hopes of five more medals on Wednesday, the final day of racing.
Up first is Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France) in the men's single sculls, followed by the lightweight men's four of Matthew O'Donoghue (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), Andrew Weiland (Upper Arlington, Ohio), Peter Gibson (Belmont, Mass.) and Robin Prendes (Miami, Fla.).
Next, U.S. lightweight women's single sculler Mary Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) of Vesper Boat Club goes to the line. Jones took seventh at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight women's quadruple sculls.
U.S. women's double sculls silver medalists Nicole Ritchie (Dummerston, Vt.) and Lindsay Meyer (Seattle, Wash.) of Vesper Boat Club join bronze-medalists Burke and Giancola to race for a second medal in the women's quadruple sculls.
Last to the line is the U.S. men's eight of coxswain Sam Ojserkis (Linwood, N.J.), Keane Johnson (Palo Alto, Calif.), Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.), Kyle Peabody (LaGrange, N.Y.), David Eick (Raleigh, N.C.), Erick Winstead (Fairfield, Conn.), Taylor Brown (Winter Park, Fla.) and Harrington and Mahon from the men's pair. The U.S. finished second to Canada in the race for lanes.