PLOVDIV, Bulgaria - Temperatures climbed well into the 90s on the first day of racing at the 2015 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Highlighting competition in Plovdiv, Bulgaria was Alexander Bonorris (Corte Madera, Calif.) and Jordan Tewksbury-Volpe (Naples, Italy), who "kept their cool" and advanced to the semifinals in the second heat of the lightweight men's pair.
In the race, the United States crew was in fourth place at the 500-meter mark, but worked its way through the field to hold the lead at the halfway point. In the end it was Greece for the win, sprinting through to take first in a 7:04.15.
"I thought our middle thousand was really strong and we were able to move back into the crews," said Bonorris. "We hit a big wall of wind at about 300 meters to go, and we're a little disheartened that it threw off our rhythm, but we kept our cool."
Volpe finished seventh in the lightweight four alongside Bonorris at the 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships and 15th in the lightweight pair at the 2013 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. The U.S. crew posted a time of 7:06.87, with Great Britain advancing in third with a 7:10.31.
"I think we weren't hugely surprised with the result," said Bonorris. "Seeing the other crews fly off the line reminds you that you're at worlds, and that people are just rearing to go.
"We're pleased because we've had a really good training cycle the last month and a half. We feel fit, and we feel fast, but we've been untested until now, essentially. We've not done any pieces against boats of the same class. It was a good first go, for sure. We're excited for the semi."
In the women's quadruple sculls, Kendall Brewer (Austin, Texas), Meghan Wheeler (McLean, Va.), Erin Briggs (Orono, Minn.) and Sam Casto (Dallas, Pa.) finished fourth and will have the opportunity to advance through the repechage. Germany won the heat to advance with a 6:41.33.
"I think some of our moves went pretty well," said Casto. "Once we settled into our rhythm, we were able to just harness a little more of our speed. Technically I think we can be a little cleaner and relax a little more and do what we know how to do. We hope to attack tomorrow and just go a little faster, make more out of our race than we did today."
The United States was in fifth place 500 meters in, and then pushed past New Zealand for the fourth-place position, which is where they finished in a 6:49.19. France finished second, and Greece was in third.
"I remember sitting on two-seat of New Zealand with 500 (meters) down, and Erin made a call at 500 or 600 that we were walking on them," said Casto. "That was pretty cool. We walked through them right around the 750 and kept moving. They moved back through the 1k, and we pushed away again. It was fun to be down and then walk through what is a pretty fast quad."
Princeton University's Wheeler returns to the U.S. crew that finished ninth last year. Casto, a senior at the University of Virginia who competed in the under 23 women's single in 2014, said the quad is "definitely a difference experience," but one that she is enjoying.
"The race is so much faster. It's not an eight-minute race; it's more like a six-and-a-half-minute race," said Casto. "Being with three other people is both more pressure and less pressure. It's scary being out there on your own, but in the quad, if you don't do great you let three other people down.
"It's cool to know that we've all trained for this together. It's been good to see the progress that we've made over the past two and a half weeks."
The United States races Thursday in a repechage with China, Russia, Greece and Romania. The top two crews advance to the final.
The last crew to the line was USA's lightweight men's double sculls crew of Austin Velte (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Jim Sincavage (Malvern, Penn.) from Conshohocken Rowing Center.
Velte and Sincavage finished fifth in their heat, posting a 7:07.01. Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus and Thailand advanced to the quarterfinals from the race. The U.S. will compete in a repechage Thursday with Switzerland, Tunisia and Ireland for a top-two finish to advance.
In addition to the two reps Thursday, 16 U.S. crews will compete in heats.
Racing begins at 9:00 a.m., local time with the women's four. The defending gold-medal U.S. crew takes on Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and Ukraine in the first heat, with the winner advancing to the final. Cal's Kendall Chase (Evergreen, Colo.) returns to the lineup. She is joined by three-time junior worlds medalist Mia Croonquist (Vashon Island, Wash.), first-time national team member Sarah Dougherty (Kent, Wash.) and Lizzy Youngling (Westport, Conn.), a five-time national team member at the junior and under 23 level who won gold in the eight last year in Italy.
In the men's four with coxswain, the United States' Seattle Area Rowing crew of Rielly Milne (Seattle, Wash.), Eric Benca (Mercer Island, Wash.), Sam Pettet (Seattle, Wash.), Oscar Golberg (Vancouver, Wash.) and Will Spencer (Redmond, Wash.) races in the second heat with New Zealand, Italy and Belarus. The top two finishers advance to the final. New Zealand won silver in the event last year.
Next up, the U.S. women's pair of Jessica Eiffert (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and Georgia Ratcliffe (Falls Church, Va.) takes on France, Ukraine, Norway and Great Britain. The top two finishers advance to the final. A 2015 University of Michigan graduate, Eiffert returns from the crew that won silver in the event at last year's under 23 worlds.
In the men's four, Kyle Flagg (Newport Beach, Calif.), Tim Tracey (Omaha, Neb.), Julian Hagberg (Minneapolis, Minn.) and John Carroll (Bronxville, N.Y.) race China, Bulgaria, Austria, Lithuania and Ukraine, with the winner advancing to the final. The U.S. finishes sixth in the event last year.
Immediately following in the first heat of the men's pair, the U.S. crew of Stuart Maeder (Washington, D.C.) and Kevin Bielawski (Belle Mead, N.J.) races Great Britain, Romania, Latvia and France for a top-three spot to advance to the semifinals. The U.S. finished eighth overall at under 23 worlds last year.
The women's double sculls event is up next, with first-time national team members Megan Goodman (Pleasanton, Calif.) and Mary Carmack (Veazie, Maine) taking on defending under 23 champion Romania, Denmark, Belarus and The Netherlands in the third of three heats. The top three finishers advance to semifinals.
In the men's double sculls, United States' Craftsbury Sculling Center athletes Taylor Beach (Camarillo, Calif.) and Ned Benning (Weston, Mass.) race Lithuania, Spain, Czech Republic, France and Germany in the first of three heats. The top two finishers advance to the semifinals. France won gold in the event last year, with Lithuania taking the silver.
Ben Davison (Iverness, Fla.) is scheduled to race in the third of four heats of the men's single sculls. He will take on Bulgaria, Belarus, Romania, Germany and Zimbabwe for the top spot to advance to the semifinals. Davison was a finalist in the event at the junior level, and finished 21st at the under 23 championships last year.
U.S. women's single sculler Mary Ann McNulty (Jacksonville, Fla.) of Jacksonville Rowing Club is up next, racing Ukraine, China, Norway and Korea in the third of three heats. The top three finishers advance to the semifinals.
In the lightweight women's quadruple sculls, the U.S. crew of Gabriela Purman (Wayland, Mass.), Olivia Jamrog (Edwardsburg, Mich.), Bridget Konttinen (Tiburon, Calif.) and Alex Coultrup (Huntington Beach, Calif.) joins Great Britain, France and Austria in the second heat of two. The top two finishers of the race advance directly to the final. The U.S. finished fifth in the event last year.
The lightweight men's quadruple sculls heats are next. Undine Barge Club's Mike Senf (Newtown, Conn.), Corey Brown (Havertown, Pa.), Andrew Kershaw (Cleveland, Ohio) and Reid Cucci (Montclair, N.J.) race Germany, Hungary, Canada and Denmark in the first of two heats for the top two spots that advance to the final.
Next up, U.S. lightweight women's single sculler Helena Randle (Brookline, Mass.) from Cambridge Boat Club takes on Ukraine, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany and Tunisia in the third of three heats. The top two finishers advance to the semifinals.
Lightweight men's single sculler Hector Formoso-Murias, Jr. (Key Biscayne, Fla.) will look to defend the United States' title in the event. The first-time national team member races Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal and Switzerland in the third of four heats. The winner advances to the semifinals.
In the lightweight women's double sculls, United States' Jennifer Sager (Erdenheim, Pa.) and Kathryn Oram (Mendham, N.J.) of Vesper Boat Club race Canada, Romania, Japan, Switzerland and Germany. The top two advance to semifinals.
The lightweight men's four meets Great Britain, Ireland, defending U23 champion Spain and Italy in the first of two heats. The top two advance directly to the final. Representing the U.S. is Ian Klein (Scarsdale, N.Y.), Samuel Ward (Winter Park, Fla.), Jacob Ford (Warrington, Pa.) and Marco Bustamante Nadeau (Thessalonkiki, Greece).
Finishing up the day, the U.S. men's eight will race in the second of two heats against Ukraine, Germany, Italy and Russia. The winner advances directly to the final.
The crew of Louis Lombardi (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.), Dara Alizadeh (Boston, Mass.), Hunter Leeming (Sarasota, Fla.), Justin Murphy (Montclair, N.J.), Max Meyer-Bosse (Westport, Conn.), Jordan Vanderstoep (Soquel, Calif.), Kaess Smit (Guadalajara, México), Greg Davis (Daly City, Calif.) and Finn Meeks (Lake Forest, Ill.) will look to return to the podium. Three members of this year's crew - Lombardi, Smit and Davis - won bronze in the event in 2014.
The World Rowing Under 23 Championships is held for 21 boat classes and is open to all FISA-member nations for athletes under the age of 23. The event began in 1976 as the 'Seniors Match' and then became the 'Nations Cup.' It became the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in 2005.
Hosting the World Rowing Under 23 Championships for the first time, Plovdiv is seasoned in hosting high-level events as the site of the 2011 European Rowing Championship and the 2012 World Rowing Junior and Senior Championships. It will also play host to the 2018 World Rowing Championships.