Crossing the finish line a full 12.5 seconds ahead of the field, Narragansett Boat Club's Eliza Kallfelz (Jamestown, R.I.) punched her ticket in the junior women's single sculls at the 2016 World Rowing Junior Championships.
Representing the U.S. for the second time in the event, Kallfelz has no time to celebrate, as she has a second trials race to prepare for in the morning. Success tomorrow would mean that she is one step closer to racing with her sister, Emily, on the international stage
"To race in a boat with my sister would be the most amazing thing," said Eliza. "We work really well together as sisters and partners. We are best friends, so it would be awesome to perform with her on the international level. I am most definitely doing this for her; I want her there with me at worlds."
If the Kallfelz sisters are successful, Eliza will be one of only a few national team athletes to have competed at both a junior and under 23 world rowing championship in the same year. In junior competition, a crew needs to win two of the three finals to qualify for the national team. In the Tuesday evening events of the 2 016 U.S. Senior, Under 23 and Junior World Championships Trials, all six crews did just that.
The next stop for these crews is the 2016 World Rowing Senior, Under 23 and Junior Championships, scheduled for August 21-28 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
In the junior women's double sculls, Y Quad Cities' Emily Delleman (Davenport, Ia.) and Carolina Sharis (Bettendorf, Ia.) positioned themselves as the first junior crew to qualify for international competition this summer. The crew posted a time of 7:23.42, finishing 9.69 seconds ahead of the following crew.
This marks Delleman's third junior national team, after claiming bronze in the quadruple sculls at the 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships and finishing seventh in the same event in 2014.
Holding off a charging Maritime Boat Club crew at the sprint, GMS Rowing Center's men's double sculls lineup of Conor Donadio (New Milford, Conn.) and Jeffery Schlyer crossed the line in a time of 6:49.41 to qualify for their first national team.
USRowing High Performance Camp's Kaitlyn Kynast (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Kailani Marchak (Long Beach, Calif.) won the junior women's pair in a time of 7:29.18, beating out their competitors by one of the largest margins of the evening. In 2015, Marchak won bronze in the women's eight while Kynast took home the gold in the women's four.
Christian Tabash (Vienna, Va.) and Joseph Johnson (Arlington, Va.) from Gonzaga College High School logged a time of 6:49.80 to qualify for their first national team in the men's pair.
Narragansett will send a second boat to Rotterdam, as Jack Luby (Barrington, R.I.) posted a time of 7:21.23 in the junior men's single sculls to secure his place at his second junior worlds. In 2015, Luby finished 15th in the double sculls.
Rowing uncontested, the composite under 23 lightweight women's quadruple sculls crew from Cambridge Boat Club, Narragansett Boat Club and Riverside Boat Club of Emma Betuel (East Hampton, N.Y.), Molly Pierce (Wayland, Mass.), Helena Randle (Brookline, Mass.) and Brigid Saorise Kennedy (East Greenwich, R.I.) officially punched their ticket to Rotterdam.