row2k news US W8, LM4x Win Heats at World Under 23 Championships
July 20, 2006 Brett Johnson, USRowing
The U.S. women's eight and lightweight men's quadruple sculls won their heats to highlight the first day of competition at the 2006 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium.
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.) clocked the fastest time of the heats en route to claiming a spot in Sunday's final. Racing in the first of two heats, the crew sat in second position behind Belarus for the first 1,000 meters before taking control and cruising to a six-second victory. During the third quarter of the race, the U.S. turned a 0.36-second deficit into a three-second advantage. The crew crossed the finish line with a time of 6:13.81. Belarus finished second in a 6:19.97. Romania, who won the second heat with a time of 6:16.90, also advanced directly to the final.
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.) won the second heat to advance directly to Sunday's final. The crew led the entire way down the course, crossing the finish line with a time of 6:01.31. Italy finished second in a 6:03.05. Russia won the first heat with a time of 6:03.64 to claim the other automatic qualifying spot in the final.
Racing in the second of two heats, the women's pair of Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) finished second and now will race in a repechage, or second-chance race, on Friday. Carle and Tomek sat in fourth place at the 1,000-meter mark before passing Germany and Great Britain in the third quarter of the race. Australia won the heat from wire-to-wire, crossing the finish line with a time of 7:24.94, to advance directly to the final. The U.S. pair finished 1.25 seconds behind in a 7:26.19. Romania won the other heat.
The men's four with coxswain of coxswain Chase Phillips (Woodbridge, Va.), Kevin Baum (Potomac, Md.), Max Vice-Reshel (Milwaukee, Wis.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), and Vince McCall (Newton Square, Pa.) also finished second in its heat and will now race in a repechage on Friday. The crew sat in third position for the first half of the race before passing Russia for second. Romania won the heat and the automatic spot in the final, clocking a 6:21.51. The U.S. boat stroked a 6:24.60.
The men's eight of coxswain Jimmy Germano (Pomona, N.J.), Will England (Marblehead, Mass.), Nate Rooks (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), Ben Harrison (Dedham, Mass.), Andrew Boston (Signal Mountain, Tenn.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Andrew Kaufman (Appleton, Wis.), Jesse Johnson (Mercer Island, Wash.), and Alex Hearne (Princeton, N.J.) finished third in its heat and now will race in a repechage on Friday. The crew got off the line in second place behind Italy but dropped to third during the second quarter of the race as Germany began its push. The Germans passed Italy just after the 1,000-meter mark and rowed to a 2.20-second victory. Germany crossed the line with a time of 5:32.03. Italy finished second in a 5:34.23, followed by the U.S. in a 5:37.81. Canada won the other heat in a 5:34.75.
Heather Johnson (Portland, Ore.) finished third in her heat of the lightweight women's single sculls and now will race in Friday's repechage. Racing in the third of four heats, Johnson sat in fourth position through the 1,000-meter mark before moving into third. Johnson clocked an 8:13.01 to finish 8.09 seconds behind the Czech Republic's Veronika Jakoubkova.
The lightweight men's four of Greg McKallagat (Andover, Mass.), Pat Ruby (Watertown, Conn.), Scott Wallen (Woodbridge, Va.), and Andrew Diebold (North Wales, Pa.) finished fourth in its heat and now will race in a repechage on Friday. The U.S. crew got off the line in fifth place but worked its way into second by the midway point of the race. However, the quartet could not maintain its position over the final 1,000 meters, falling to fourth. Italy won the heat with a time of 6:07.51. The U.S. finished less than three seconds behind in a 6:10.29.
Ted Sobolewski (Williamsville, N.Y.), Patrick Sullivan (Hingham, Mass.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), and Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished fourth in their heat of the men's quadruple sculls. The crew crossed the finish line with a time of 6:05.93, finishing nearly 10 seconds behind the heat winners from Austria. Austria won the heat with a time of 5:55.98. The U.S. crew will race in Friday's repechage for a chance to advance to the semifinals.
James Dietz II (Amherst, Mass.) finished fifth in his heat of the men's single sculls. Racing in the first of four heats, Dietz clocked a 7:21.88 and now will race in a repechage on Friday.
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