LINZ, Austria - The U.S. junior women's eight made history Saturday at the 2008 FISA World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships, winning the first U.S. gold medal in the junior women's eight event in the history of the championships, and the second gold medal by a U.S. junior women's crew. In addition, Cara Linnenkohl won silver in the junior women's single sculls, while the junior men's eight took bronze.
In a come-from-behind victory over defending world-champion Romania, the junior women's eight crew of coxswain Chelsea Lucas (Greenbrae, Calif.), Melisa Ongun (Chicago, Ill.), Erika Roddy (San Francisco, Calif.), Emily Reynolds (Washington, Conn.), Brandy Herald (Portland, Ore.), Cristina Felix (San Marino, Calif.), Martha Kuzzy (Minneapolis, Minn.), Molly Hamrick (Tampa, Fla.) and Anastasia Alexander (Long Beach, Calif.) pulled out a win for the U.S.
"The race was amazing beyond belief," said 15-year-old Herald. "I remember seeing the Romanian crew in the last 400 meters, and I knew we had them."
The U.S. crew was third out of the blocks, trailing behind Germany and Romania at the 500-meter mark. By the halfway point, Germany fell back, allowing the U.S. and Romanian crews to battle it out for first place. A decisive move by the U.S. at the 1,750-metr mark brought the crew out front, where it continued to take seats through the final stretch and win by two seconds in a 6:31.63. Romania clocked a 6:33.68 for the silver medal, while Germany finished third in a 6:37.72. France crossed fourth in a 6:48.69, followed by Russia in fifth in a 6:49.07.
"I'm so happy," said Kuzzy, a second-time junior national team member. "Now that it's all said and done, I can go back and eat ice cream and celebrate."
"The win was well-deserved for the amount of time and energy they put in," said coach Steve Hargis.
Four members of the crew raced on last year's team - Hamrick and Ongun won bronze in the event at the 2007 FISA World Rowing Junior Championships, while Felix and Kuzzy raced in the women's four that finished eighth.
In the junior women's single sculls, Cara Linnenkohl (Redmond, Wash.) took silver, the highest finish of a U.S. junior men's or women's single sculls crew in event history. Linnenkohl was fifth off the line, but moved into second place by the 750-meter mark. In the sprint to the finish line, the U.S. sculler held off the charge of Norway's Tale Gjoertz to clock a 7:58.89. Germany's Carina Baer won gold in a 7:50.76. Norway finished third in an 8:02.09, with Romania fourth in an 8:07.27. Australia crossed fifth, followed by Croatia.
"Thank God that's over!" said Linnenkohl, a member of the women's pair that placed sixth at last year's championships. "I had to fight like David and Goliath."
The junior men's eight of coxswain Keanan Clark (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.), Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Tyler Nase (Phoenixville, Pa.), Nicholas Jordan (Princeton, N.J.), Thomas Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.), Brian Wettach (Wakefield, Mass.), Justin Hopkins (Davis, Calif.), Ivan Lys-Dobradin (Winter Park, Fla.) and Cameron Klotz (St. Louis, Mo.) took bronze. Defending champion Germany led the race from wire-to-wire, clocking a 5:50.03 for the win. The U.S. crew held onto second place until the 1,500-meter mark, but couldn't hold back the New Zealand crew as it sprinted to the finish line in a 5:50.46 for the silver medal. The U.S. clocked a 5:54.50 in third, with Italy fourth in a 5:56.26. Great Britain finished fourth in a 5:58.72, followed by Spain in a 6:06.60. Silveira placed fifth in the event at last year's championships, while Klotz placed 14th in the men's four.
John Hogan (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Austin Brooks (Costa Mesa, Calif.) of the junior men's pair missed the medal stand by just 0.54 seconds, placing fourth. Greece led from wire-to-wire, clocking a 6:54.27 in victory. With four crews within a boat-length of each other going into the last 250 meters, Germany crossed second in a 6:56.57. Australia and the U.S. battled it out for the third spot, with the Australians squeezing past in the final strokes for a time of 6:56.99. Hogan and Brooks clocked a 6:57.53, followed by fifth-place France in a 7:03.59 and Slovenia in a 7:04.66.
Eliza Hastings (Berwyn, Pa.), Betsy Nilan (Milford, Conn.), Michelle Pearson (Pembroke, Bermuda) and Lucy Grinalds (Southport, Conn.) of the junior women's four placed sixth in the final. The U.S. crew had a solid start out of the blocks, but could not keep up with the speed of the rest of the field. New Zealand took the lead from Italy in the final 500 meters to win in a 7:00.41. Italy crossed second in a 7:02.73, with Great Britain third in a 7:05.22. Germany finished in fourth place with a 7:12.35, with Australia fifth with a 7:16.87.
The junior women's pair of Mary Maginnis (Maple Glen, Pa.) and Shannon Stief (Mukilteo, Wash.) won the B final in a 7:49.26 to finish in seventh place overall. The U.S. crew rowed even with Poland across the 1,000-meter mark, and then were able to move ahead to gain the lead over the last quarter of the race course. Poland finished second in a 7:52.82, with Ukraine third in a 7:55.82. Iran crossed fourth in an 8:04.97. The U.S. finished sixth in the event at last year's championships.
Coxswain Devon Teichman (Harleysville, Pa.), Andrew Lewis (Princeton Junction, N.J.), Kyle Schmidt (Sarasota, Fla.), Christopher Lutz (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Brian Searle (Somers Point, N.J.) of the junior men's four with coxswain finished second in the B final. The U.S. crew was a half boat length down on New Zealand at the 1,000-meter mark, and then moved up even by the 1,500-meter mark. The New Zealand crew sprinted hard at the end to win by less than a second in a 6:39.30. The U.S. crew crossed second in a 6:40.26 for eighth place overall, with South Africa third in a 6:50.78. The U.S. placed seventh in the event at the 2007 FISA World Rowing Junior Championships. Lutz was a member of last year's junior men's eight that placed fifth.
Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) and Tom Nesel (Duanesburg, N.Y.) of the junior men's double sculls finished sixth in the B final to place 12th overall. The U.S. crew clocked a 6:53.21. Norway won the race in a 6:38.62, with Denmark second in a 6:41.10 and Serbia third in a 6:43.41.
In the junior women's double sculls, Mairi McKellop (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Emily Eiffert (Rochester, N.Y.) finished in a sixth place. Australia won in a 7:25.69, followed by Czech Republic in a 7:29.93. The U.S. duo clocked a 7:46.17 for 12th place overall.
The junior women's quadruple sculls crew of Rachel Knaster (London, United Kingdom), Kirsten Van Fossen (Moorestown, N.J.), Dara Dickson (Lafayette, Calif.) and Kelsey Reelick (Brookfield, Conn.) won the C final in a 7:00.87, to finish 13th overall. Ukraine and Japan battled it out for second place in the final 50 meters, with Ukraine taking the lead to finish second in a 7:02.64. Japan crossed third in a 7:03.24.
Kynan Reelick (Morris, Conn.) crossed third in the C final of the junior men's single sculls, finishing 15th place overall. The U.S. sculler was in fifth place at the 1,250-meter mark, but managed to sprint into third in the last few hundred meters. Brazil's Fabio Jose Moreira won in a 7:16.35, followed by Croatia's Ivan Rom in a 7:19.30. Reelick clocked a 7:21.88, just 0.48 seconds ahead of Spain in fourth. Greece and Lithuania followed in fifth and sixth, respectively.
The junior men's quadruple sculls crew of Gabriel Fort (Miami Beach, Fla.), Harold Fort (Miami Beach, Fla.), Matthew Sobotka (Sarasota, Fla.) and Ian Stewart (Sarasota, Fla.) finished third in the D final, for 21st place overall. The U.S. crew clocked a 6:28.04, with Austria winning the race in a 6:21.64. Bulgaria crossed second in a 6:23.99.
Racing concludes Sunday with finals in eight senior events. Five U.S. crews will have a chance to win medals - the lightweight men's eight, women's four, lightweight men's quadruple sculls, lightweight women's quadruple sculls and lightweight women's single sculls.
For complete race results and schedule, visit www.worldrowing.com. For media information and athlete bios, visit http://www.usrowing.org/news_media/index.aspx.