Nine crews will represent the United States at the 2006 World Rowing Under 23 Championships July 20-23 in Hazewinkel, Belgium.
The men's eight of coxswain Jimmy Germano (Pomona, N.J.), Ben Harrison (Dedham, Mass.), Alex Hearne (Princeton, N.J.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Andrew Kaufman (Appleton, Wis.), Will England (Marblehead, Mass.), Andrew Boston (Signal Mountain, Tenn.), Jesse Johnson (Mercer Island, Wash.), and Nate Rooks (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) will race against 10 other crews. Hearne returns to the Under 23 team after finishing fourth in the men's four at last year's event. Johnson and Germano were members of last year's junior men's eight that won a gold medal at the 2005 World Rowing Junior Championships.
The women's eight of coxswain Katelin Snyder (Winter Park, Fla.), Genevra Stone (Newton, Mass.), Devan Darby (Virginia Beach, Va.), Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.), Megan Smith (Templeton, Calif.), Kate Davison (Bedford, N.H.), Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.), Kerry Birk (Scottsdale, Ariz.), and Anne Kennedy (Mt. Vision, N.Y.) will take on seven other crews. Davison and Birk both have international experience at the junior world championships, with Davison winning back-to-back medals in the junior women's eight in 2002 and 2003.
Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) is the lone returning medalist from last year's Under 23 squad. Carle won a gold medal in the women's four last year and will race in the women's pair this year with Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.), a fellow University of Michigan product. The duo will take on 10 other crews in Hazewinkel.
Ted Sobolewski (Williamsville, N.Y.), Patrick Sullivan (Hingham, Mass.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), and Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) will race 14 other crews in the men's quadruple sculls. Sullivan won a silver medal in the men's four with coxswain at the 2005 FISA World Championships in Gifu, Japan, while Cole was a two-time junior national team member.
The lightweight men's four of Greg McKallagat (Andover, Mass.), Pat Ruby (Watertown, Conn.), Scott Wallen (Woodbridge, Va.), and Andrew Diebold (North Wales, Pa.) will race against 13 crews. McKallagat is the lone rower in the boat with international experience, having twice raced with the junior national team.
In the lightweight men's quadruple sculls, Brian de Regt (Rowayton, Conn.), Daniel Feldman (Miami, Fla.), Jon Winter (New Haven, Conn.), and Richard Klein (Westport, Conn.) will take on nine other crews. All four scullers are first-time national team members.
Coxswain Chase Phillips (Woodbridge, Va.), Kevin Baum (Potomac, Md.), Max Vice-Reshel (Milwaukee, Wis.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), and Vince McCall (Newton Square, Pa.) will take on 10 other crews in the men's four with coxswain. Phillips coxed the men's pair with coxswain to a bronze medal at last year's senior world championships. He is the lone crew member with international experience.
James Dietz II (Amherst, Mass.) will take on 21 other scullers in the men's single sculls, while Heather Johnson (Portland, Ore.) will race 16 other scullers in the lightweight women's single sculls. Both are first-time U.S. National Team members.